West of the Moon
by Calypso Jones
Summary: After the defeat of Naraku, Sesshomaru is free to pursue his empire. But what is he supposed to do with a human child? And, when she returns to him a grown woman, what is he supposed to do with her love in the middle of battle? eventual RinSess
1. Prologue

West of the Moon

A/N: Cool, so here's the prolog. It's short, but don't worry…I'm in the middle of writing chapter fourteen and my Beta (everyone say hi to the beta!) is working on chapter two so this should be quick. Oh, and there's not much plot here, just set up, but the first chapter will fix that little problem.

―

West of the Moon

Prolog

It wasn't supposed to have been quite so easy. Naturally, Naraku had never been a real threat, not as far as Sesshomaru was concerned…an annoyance really.

But destroying him wasn't supposed to have been that easy.

Not so easy that it could be accomplished by Inuyasha at any rate.

Rin murmured something unintelligible through her fevered sleep and Sesshomaru brushed the backs of his fingers over her cheek. He wasn't sure why it worked, but Rin was always comforted by his presence and, given the current situation, it was his duty to calm her.

Damn Naraku.

If Inuyasha hadn't beaten him to destroying that bastard he would have made that Hanyou pay for his crimes against Rin.

He still couldn't comprehend what had happened exactly…Rin had been safe one moment and then…then she was gone. Just the thought made him growl low in his throat. Naraku had snatched her again. Had he not learned the first time that kidnapping Rin only angered him rather than distracted him?

He had hunted Naraku down and, in the process, caught up with his hanyou brother and his pack in mid battle.

Sesshomaru had leapt into battle, ready and willing to destroy Naraku once and for all, but Naraku seemed to have realized that he was in trouble because suddenly Rin – limp and battered – had been dangling from Naraku's tentacles. With his damn brother charging straight at her.

Impatient bastard.

In the end Inuyasha had killed Naraku and Sesshomaru had all but killed Inuyasha, but the results of the battle were favorable so it didn't really matter who had done what exactly.

Except for the part where Naraku had hurt Rin and Jaken had allowed it to happen. That still mattered.

If Sesshomaru were in the mood to be forgiving, which he most certainly wasn't, he could acknowledge the fact the Rin was relatively prone to ending up in dangerous situations, even with his protection, and that her current injuries were relatively minor. They were certainly less severe than he had feared when she had fallen from Naraku's grasp and crumpled so pathetically against the prone form of Inuyasha's miko.

He should probably have thanked that girl for cushioning Rin's fall, saving her from further pain, even if the miko had been unconscious at the time. Then again, if he were going to do that then he would probably have to thank his bastard brother as well, and that was never going to happen.

Rin moaned again and Sesshomaru pulled her a little closer, settling her more securely against the warmth of his fur, and stroked her mussed hair out of her face. Her skin was a little too warm and her cheek was turning a sort of malted purple, but he knew that she had really only suffered a few bruises and a few scratches, which was remarkable considering she had been in Naraku's clutches for nearly three days.

Three days.

Sesshomaru realized he was growling again only when Rin's face scrunched a little and her hand tightened around his fur.

"Quiet," he told her, but he wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because her sweaty hands were tugging at his fur uncomfortably. He tried prying her fingers loose with little success…she released his fur only to clutch at his fingers.

"Rin," he warned. She only snuggled closer and he relented, surrendering his fingers and wondering where exactly Jaken had gotten to. Sesshomaru was quite sure he had survived the battle, but the toad had yet to make an appearance, which didn't really bother him beyond the fact that Sesshomaru had the strong desire to kick something.

Rin gurgled something that might have been his name and clutched at his fingers, her eyes popped open and darted around the trees frantically. "Sesshomaru-Sama!" Her fists opened and closed on around his hands reflexively. "Sesshomaru-Sama."

"Rin." He caught her chin gently, trying to avoid piercing her with his claws. "Rin." Her eyes caught his briefly but she didn't seem to know who she was looking at.

"Sesshomaru-Sama, please."

He shifted a little closer, coming nearly nose to nose with the girl and settling down next to her. "Rin."

She exhaled raggedly and relaxed a little. "Sesshomaru-Sama. Rin was scared that Rin was dreaming," she admitted. "Rin was afraid she was still alone."

Sesshomaru responded by gently smoothing his hand over her cheek and her fingers tightened around his. "Sleep Rin. You're safe."

She nodded a little, taking the comfort he rarely offered for what it was…a one time reassurance that he was going to protect her and would broke no more questions about that fact.

"Sesshomaru-Sama?" He blinked at her. "Sesshomaru-Sama, where are we?"

"Hn." She nodded as though that was enough of an answer to pinpoint them. But then again her eyelids had begun to droop, so it seemed that any answer would have done.

"Sesshomaru-Sama, don't go away anymore," she whispered. "Rin doesn't like being alone." But then her eyes had drifted shut and her hand was lax around his. He pulled it away just to prove to himself that she had no hold over him, but he was still curled up beside her and his other claw was still ghosting over her cheek and stroking down her hair.

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A/N: Review or don't review, just make sure you click that nice arrow to go to the first chapter. Then review.


	2. Space

West of the Moon

West of the Moon

Chapter One

Rin was skipping just behind his left foot: a normal activity, really, but she was just a tad closer to him than usual. If he were to stop suddenly, which he had a habit of doing; it would be Rin who would collide with his leg rather than Jaken.

Sesshomaru noted that lately quite a few things had changed about Rin. She still sang ridiculous songs and presented him with bouquets of flowers, but she didn't quibble with Jaken when he told her to be quiet and she didn't stray of the path to gather flowers. She insisted on taking Ahun with her when she foraged. She wouldn't sleep until Sesshomaru was settled for the night.

He didn't want to think about what was going to happen when he inevitably ventured out on his own. Rin would throw a fit.

On the plus side, at least he didn't have to pay such close attention to where Rin was wondering off too. She was rarely less than twenty paces from him at any given time. She was so close, in fact, that it was only because of his superior reflexes that he'd managed thus far not to trip over her.

It had been nearly two months since Naraku's demise and she had relaxed a little bit – she no longer woke in the night in a panic – and Sesshomaru could only hope that she would, at some point, grow out of this new dependency. Sesshomaru could put up with a little clinginess, but at some point he was going to need some space…In fact, he decided, he needed his space _now._

"Rin, get on Ahun."

"Hai," she chirped, drowning out Jaken's squawked questions of, "What? Why? Where are we going?" Sesshomaru didn't bother to answer, mostly because they were impertinent questions and secondarily because he didn't have the answers, and left it to Rin to either scoop the little youkai up or leave him behind as she saw fit.

As soon as the girl was secure in the saddle he took off at a full run. The dragon took to the air in a futile attempt to keep pace with him, but both he and Ahun knew it was impossible. He had considered taking to the air as well, but he'd felt cramped with the little girl at his heels and didn't want to deal with a dragon in his wake as well.

Above him he heard Rin squeal with delight as the dragon powered through the air, and in the distance Jaken was calling his name – apparently Rin had left him behind after all – and he felt some of the tension he hadn't known he was feeling seeping out of him. If all it took to relax a little was the slight exertion of running, he might try picking another fight with his worthless brother next.

On impulse he darted left, leaving the small path they had been following, and amused himself with darting full speed around tree trunks and over roots. Ahun's already labored breathing twisted away from the path as well and followed his lead even though the distance between them was growing rapidly. He wasn't trying to lose the dragon, or the girl, but he had no plans of stopping now. The dragon would follow as best he could, and make sure no harm came to Rin, and when Sesshomaru was ready he could always turn around and find his way back to them.

He had no destination in mind, not really, but ever since the destruction of Naraku he had resignedly turned his group west once more. To keep his lands, he had to patrol the borders relatively frequently, and to gain further territories, he had to know as much as possible about his neighboring lords. It wasn't quite as thrilling as traveling the land destroying enemies perhaps, but it offered him the chance to fight frequently, perfect his political prowess and, eventually, gain an empire that would dwarf his fathers.

Maybe, if he devoted the time to it, he could accomplish that goal. The question was: how much time would it require? A year? A decade? A lifetime? More? And then what…death in battle? Would he then leave his empire to some son who didn't yet exist? Passing glory?

No, there had to be something more, some immortality that he could achieve…not literally, of course, because assuming he was never killed, his life span was already nearly endless and he had no desires to make it truly endless. He wanted the kind of immortality that would have people talking about him thousands of years from now, and not as some disembodied name on a family tree. He wanted enduring glory. That was more important than any empire as far as he was concerned.

He darted around another tree and caught the scent of a river further to the north. It would be a good place to stop for the night; Rin would have food and water nearby as well as the resources for a bath. He altered course to intersect the waterway, intent on scouting out a place to settle down. He would assure himself that the area was free of any potential threat.

With any luck, there would be a viscous pack of bear youkai that he would have to slay.

To his disappointment there were no bear youkai. There were no wolf youkai. There were no snakes, no dragons, no giant birds, nothing at all worth fighting. There were a few scattered bandit hoards nearby, but they were hardly worth bothering about and certainly posed no challenge to destroy should they require it.

Rin seemed happy enough splashing through the shallows and scaring away more fish than she caught. He didn't understand what she was doing, he knew that she was an expert fisher and that she didn't normally splash and scare away the fish, but she seemed to find amusement in her activities. It certainly didn't matter to him if the girl chose to play rather than eat.

By the time night had truly set in though, Rin had dried off and eaten. Ahun was snoring airily, Jaken had yet to make an appearance, and Sesshomaru was leaning against a tree watching his ward trace shapes in the dirt with her fingers.

That was another question he had yet to find an answer to: what was he going to do with Rin? She certainly seemed to want to stay with him forever, but human girls grew into human women, had human children and died human deaths. Sesshomaru had no patience to deal with a family of humans wanting to follow him around and Rin would someday want a normal life. But should he force it on her now, or merely let her leave when she was ready? Did he have the time to wait to start his empire if she wanted to stay for another ten years? Or could he still achieve his goals with a human child following him everywhere?

He didn't know.

"Rin." She looked up at him quickly, her drawings forgotten. "Come."

She scrambled to her feet and padded after him faithfully when he rose and led the way through the dark trees. "Where are we going, Sesshomaru-Sama?" she asked eventually, peering around only to discover that the light of the campfire had disappeared from view. Sesshomaru's response was to move aside a few of the branches before him to reveal a steaming spring.

"Oh!" Rin squealed, smiling and already tugging at her obi. "Thank you Sesshomaru-Sama!"

"Bathe quickly, Rin," he cautioned, but he knew she was nearly incapable of that. He had found this spring while waiting for the dragon to catch up to him and while it was private it was closer to a band of human bandits than he would have liked. Unfortunately, Rin was fastidious about bathing. She had no fear of getting dirty, but she was almost unnaturally serious about a warm bath. She enjoyed bathing and although she never splashed or played as she did in streams and rivers, the process of cleaning never seemed to last less than an hour.

Sesshomaru faded back into the dark as Rin at last succeeded in untying her clothes and prepared himself to wait, as usual. While Rin had no sense of modesty – she would not have seen anything wrong with Sesshomaru staying in the clearing with her – it was habit for him to withdraw to a place within earshot of his ward, lean against a tree, and wait for her to call him when she was clean and dressed. He was more than close enough to save her from any danger.

Tonight Rin was singing as she bathed, something inane about Jaken's hat, and Sesshomaru was pleased to note that the fact that he was out of her sight didn't seem to bother her. Perhaps she wouldn't mind if he left more often in his quest for empire after all.

The wind shifted slightly and Sesshomaru could smell lilies in the distance. He crinkled his nose and made a point of marking the direction so that they could avoid the area. A field of lilies might appeal to Rin, but she would inevitably wind up carrying a few around with her for days and the scent of those damn flowers was enough to mask even the vile scent of wolf and it clung to things for days. There was no way he was letting Rin anywhere near lilies.

Rin's song had become a sort of musical hum in the background but suddenly it broke off into a scream that had Sesshomaru on his feet and charging towards her before she'd even had the chance to draw a second breath.

He broke through the tree line in time to see Rin scrambling out of the water in an attempt to escape a man in worn armor. Before he'd really thought about it Sesshomaru had snatched Rin up in his left arm, easily pulling her out of the man's reach, and had his claws primed to poison the unfortunate bandit.

"No! Rin!" the man yelled.

Sesshomaru paused for half a second. Did this man know Rin? Did she know him? But the bandit charged forward, grabbing at his sword in an obvious attempt to attack Sesshomaru, and Sesshomaru decided that taking action would be better than thought at that moment.

Giving up on poisoned claws, Sesshomaru opted to grab the man's throat instead, lifting him from his feet. Surprised, the man even dropped his sword.

Sesshomaru glared at the man, memorizing his face and scent even though he was struggling to pry Sesshomaru's fingers from his throat. He was young, maybe seventeen, but his face was as scarred as a general of many years. His hair was dark and his eyes were hard. Or rather, his eye was hard. The left eye was hidden by a patch but the amount of scar tissue visible told Sesshomaru there was likely no real "eye" underneath.

"What do you want of this Sesshomaru's ward?" he growled, resisting the urge to snap the boy's neck. Demons found the thought of copulating with an immature female revolting, but that was not always the case among humans. If this man had intended to mate with Rin, he would not be getting another breath.

The man had to gurgle a little and turn a new shade of red before Sesshomaru realized he couldn't breathe enough to answer. He dropped the human with a snort of derision, but didn't dare slacken his hold on Rin. He knew, distantly, that Rin was unclothed and still dripping from her interrupted bath, but he wasn't about to release her for that perverted human to gap at. It also occurred to him that the girl couldn't be comfortable, not when she was being held tightly against cold armor, sword hilts and had to avoid spikes, but safety overrode comfort.

"Ssss," the man hissed, rubbing at his throat, "Ister. Sister."

If it weren't for the fact that Rin tried to twist in his grasp suddenly he would have killed the impertinent human at that moment.

"Release my Rin now, demon." He was still a strange color and his neck was beginning to blotch purple but the man was grabbing at his sword and attempting to rise to his feet.

Pathetic human. His Rin? Hardly. A flick of Sesshomaru's wrist and a flash of green light sent the man's sword flying again. His head was going to follow it shortly.

"Yu-Yukichi?"

Sesshomaru pulled back from striking the blow, shooting Rin a curious glance. Her hair was dark and dripping, plastered against her face in long tangles, but she was very obviously staring at the human male with something like shock. She fisted her hands into Sesshomaru's sleeve, which, he noted, hung long enough against her body to cover her adequately.

The man stumbled forward a step, reaching a hand out to her, but she squeaked and Sesshomaru prevented further advance by pressing two glowing claws just beneath the man's chin.

"Papa said you're dead."

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes at the man, keeping him at arms length, and repositioned Rin a little in an effort to keep from walloping her too severely with the hilts of his swords. "Explain."

The man made a sort of "Gah!" sound but Rin decided that the command was meant for her and answered for herself. "The Lord where Rin lived was attacked and the men went to help. Papa said Rin's biggerest brother died."

"Hn." If the Lord had been destroyed, it made sense that the area had become unsafe. No wonder Rin's family had been slaughtered. But that didn't explain this man before him.

Apparently the man had decided that Sesshomaru's continued stare was an indication to speak because he eased back half a step, just far enough to swallow without skewering himself on claws, and said, "Papa was wrong. When the castle burned and the men fled, they took the wounded with them. They took me too. I…they healed me and fed me, it was my duty to stay with them…Rin…"

Sesshomaru growled but that story made sense as well. He wasn't about to let this man claim Rin as family but given the circumstances he'd rather not kill a man who could feasibly be her brother. At least, not in front of her. Claws still extended towards the man Sesshomaru released his hold on Rin. The bandit stepped forward and Rin cowered back behind the leg of Sesshomaru's pant. Sesshomaru growled again, more audibly, and the human male stilled. "Dress, Rin."

There was a rustle of cloth to his left that indicated she was doing just that. The man's eyes were fixed on her and Sesshomaru found himself sidling left to block her from view.

At least the man had the decency to drop his eyes when he realized he had been staring.

Rin appeared at Sesshomaru's right side, so close that she might very well have been wrapped up in his pelt, with her obi tied a little crookedly and her very wet tangled hair dripping down her back. She tugged at it a little, ribbon in hand, trying to comb through the knots and find the chunk she usually tied off, but gave up with a frown.

When this was over, Sesshomaru was going to make sure she had another bath…Her hair might not be as silky as his but even when he'd first seen her with missing teeth and bruises it hadn't been this matted. She seemed to enjoy keeping her hair presentable.

"What are you doing with Rin?" Sesshomaru didn't answer and it seemed to anger the man. "What have you done to her, demon?"

Sesshomaru's power flared visibly at the ends of his extended claws and the man swallowed, turning his attention instead towards Rin.

"Rin, you know me. It's Yukichi, remember?" She nodded. "What are you doing here, Rin? Why aren't you home with Mama and Papa and Denzo? They must miss you, no? Don't you want to go home?"

Rin made a noise that was reminiscent of a squashed bird and crowded closer to Sesshomaru. He didn't really mean to but he realized he was pressing his fur forward and against her comfortingly when he felt one of her small hands burrow into the white pelt.

"Rin is the ward of this Sesshomaru, human."

"But-" Yukichi began. Rin cut him off.

"After the Lord…." She took a shivery breath, "Bandits came and killed Rin's family. Rin's Papa told Rin and Rin's brother to hide but Rin's brother…When Rin's Mama screamed, Rin's brother…Denzo tried to-" Her voice broke over a dry sob and suddenly her hand was no longer tangled in his fur and her arms were wrapped around Yukichi's neck. "Rin was all alone."

The man wrapped his arms around her as well, lifting her from the ground. "Oh, Rin. Rin." There were tears in the man's eyes and he swallowed repeatedly which Sesshomaru recognized as a human sign of mourning.

"Hn," he decided, turning on his heel and striding away, he would leave the human's to mourn. Then again…could he just leave Rin with this man permanently? He was her brother, he was human…living with her brother would be a normal human life, right?

Rin made a noise of protest and Sesshomaru realized she had pulled away from her brother and was pattering after him, fully prepared to leave her only living relative behind just because Sesshomaru was moving on.

Yukichi was just as surprised by that turn of events as Sesshomaru was if the way the man darted forwards and snatched Rin's arm was any indication. She squealed when he grabbed her and then again when Sesshomaru snatched hold of Yukichi's throat once more.

"You will not harm this my Rin." The wide eyed, purpling man could only nod, which Sesshomaru accepted mostly because he was distracted by his own thoughts.

My Rin. Interesting.

He released Yukichi's throat as an after thought. "Come," he commanded, turning once more towards the trees. He set off through the shadows with both humans at his heels.

―

A/N: Alright, NOW you can review. Rock on, dudes.


	3. Ribbons and Flowers

.A/N: Terribly sorry about the delay…I got dragged to a family reunion, started a new job and then annoyed my beta…a lot. Heh. Um…oops? Anyway, here's the chapter.

* * *

West of the Moon

Chapter Two

The man faltered a little when he caught sight of Ahun in the fire light, but Sesshomaru only settled back into his place by a tree trunk and Rin scampered to the saddle bags as though there was nothing strange about the two headed Dragon. Yukichi seemed unsure of what to do now that both Sesshomaru and Rin were ignoring him…this was clearly not what he had expected when Sesshomaru had commanded that he follow him. He ended up sitting down at the edge of the fire, watching Sesshomaru and Rin through the flames.

As far as Sesshomaru was concerned, interaction with the human male was Rin's responsibility, not his own. If she did not interact with her brother or if the two interacted poorly, then she would accompany him tomorrow when they left. If she interacted well…Then Sesshomaru would have to decide if he was willing to leave her with this human.

Not that the choice wasn't hers to make, of course, but if he found the man to be unfit, then Sesshomaru had no qualms about destroying him, leaving her with only one choice.

For her part, Rin was unusually quiet. She had not sung on the walk back and she had murmured only a cursory "hello" to the dragons as she rooted through her belongings. Now she was very intently, and very quietly, working the knots out of her hair with a wide toothed comb.

It was clear she wasn't happy with her progress – less than a third of her hair seemed to be complying and she had screwed her face up with frustration. Sesshomaru thought there might even be a few tears in her eyes.

Poor girl. She would definitely be allowed another bath tomorrow when this brother issue had been resolved.

Yukichi seemed to realize she was struggling as well because he rose, with a glance to Sesshomaru, and approached her. "Let me help, Rin."

She had turned her pouting face towards him and Sesshomaru half expected her to say no, but she handed the comb over after a moment's hesitation. Yukichi settled behind her and began working the comb through her hair gently, but Rin's scowl remained firmly in place.

As soon as the first hank of untangled hair was laid over her shoulder, though, her face softened and Sesshomaru found himself watching the two groom with interest. The man was careful to avoid tugging her hair, starting at the bottom and working up to the root. Soon Rin's hair was straight and smooth, hanging down her back in a damp mass. She had even started to smile.

Normally, this was where Rin would separate out the shorter handful of hair that made up her pony tail and tie it up before turning her back on the flames to dry the rest. And when it was dry, she inevitably shook her hair forward around her shoulders and made a game of running her hands through it.

But Yukichi…Yukichi separated her long hair into thirds, braiding it down her back and securing it with a very large bow. Rin's scowl was back full force and Sesshomaru decided that even if Rin had liked this hairstyle he wouldn't have. It made her look different, like any human child. It made her face too round and her eyes too big. It made her something that wasn't Rin.

And he could tell she was torn between tearing the ribbon out and leaving it to ovoid offending him. Yukichi seemed not to see that though because he rose, tucked her under the chin and said, "You're hair has gotten long, Rin." She blinked up at him. "You look just as pretty as Mama now."

"Hai," she dipped her head forward, hiding her eyes. One of her hands touched the base of her braid with something like pain. "Like Mama."

* * *

Sesshomaru did not like Yukichi.

More than hadn't liked him before, if that was possible.

Since the braid, Rin had become quiet around him and it wasn't right.

It wasn't that Rin was loud…at least, not always. She knew how to hold her tongue when she had too. But total silence from her was unusual. It reminded him of the silence she had imposed on herself when he had first met her, the silence that meant that she was scarred and nervous.

It was Yukichi's fault. His presence was changing Rin, turning her into someone else, someone who probably wouldn't look strange wearing her hair in a braid.

Someone who probably wouldn't follow a demon lord.

"She's different now," Yukichi said, voicing Sesshomaru's thoughts. Both men were watching her sleep, curled up against Ahun a little closer than was usual. "She was six when I left. Not so very grown up, six, but she seems so much…older now. Quiet."

So he had noticed as well? But this man didn't know what quiet meant, not with Rin. Not any more. Two years had changed her.

He chuckled dryly. "I never thought Rin could be quiet. It's almost nice." Sesshomaru nearly growled because there was nothing nice about a quiet Rin, no matter what Jaken said. He restrained himself by remembering that he had no interest in the lives of human's, even Rin, so it didn't matter that her brother knew nothing about her. "But," Yukichi continued, "It's not normal. I wonder how long she was alone."

A year, he figured. Probably a year. Too long. Sesshomaru could have told him that. He could have told him about the village beating her, about her worn out clothes, about the silence and the pain but he didn't. It wasn't his story to tell and he had no desire to speak to this man.

"Is she safe with you?" Yukichi asked at last, leveling his one eye on Sesshomaru.

His instinct was to say yes. Could there be any doubt that a taiyoukai could protect a human? But then he thought of Naraku, of the hell hound, of the coming quest for empire. He had been asking himself this same question, and he hadn't found an answer yet. Could he protect her? Was Rin safe with him?

He was stronger, faster, better….but he was never safe. So he gave the only answer he could think of.

"I am a demon."

* * *

When Jaken appeared the next morning, whining loudly to Sesshomaru about the fate that had befallen him, Yukichi seemed to feel it was an appropriate time to try and speak to Rin privately.

Unfortunately for him, Rin didn't see any reason to answer his questions in whispers and Sesshomaru was listening in on their conversation. Jaken screeched on with no one listening, not even noticing the extra human in the group.

"Rin, it's not safe," Yukichi whispered, "You should be with people who will protect you."

"Sesshomaru-Sama protects me," Rin pointed out loudly. Yukichi winced and shot Sesshomaru a look, but the demon's eyes were fixed on the horizon and gave no indication of having heard her.

"But what does he protect you from? Other demons who want to eat you? People can do that. I can do that. Rin…how do you know _he _doesn't want to eat you?"

Oh. So _that's _what Yukichi thought of him, that he would lower himself to snaking on _humans_? Disgusting.

Rin laughed. "Silly Yukichi. Sesshomaru-Sama doesn't eat human food."

Damn. He had told her that, but he had only meant that there was nothing she could bring to him that he would find appetizing, not that he wouldn't eat her. It wasn't as if he couldn't devour a few humans whole if he chose to. There were plenty of demons who refused human food but ate people.

Doesn't eat human food.

Ridiculous.

Really, the girl ought to know that she had every reason to fear him and very few reasons to trust him.

"Rin, really. He'll hurt you at some point. And you can't live like this…don't you want a house to keep you safe and dry? Friends to play with? Does your lord take care of you, feed you, clothe you?"

Jaken surprised them all by breaking off mid tirade to yell, "Insolent human! How dare you insult Lord Sesshomaru? Rin's dressed right now, isn't she?" Yukichi gapped at the toad that, apparently, had _not_ been ignoring him. Jaken's attention shifted to Rin next. "What happened to your hair?"

This time it wasn't just Sesshomaru who saw the tears shinning in the girls eyes. Jaken found himself having to find his way back to camp with an imprint of Sesshomaru's boot on his face as a result.

* * *

He hated to admit it, but Yukichi had made some good points. He was thinking of things Sesshomaru had not even begun to consider.

Traveling with a small human necessitated a few changes: stopping frequently for rest and food, traveling slower, and destroying threats to her well being to name a few. But it was still warm out, and Sesshomaru hadn't really considered the coming winter. It was easy to forget when the cold didn't affect him.

As it got colder, Rin would be unable to sleep in the open, fire or no. She would need shelter. That would mean settling with her in some place for the winter, or, at the very least, frequently taking time out of his travels to return to some human building to check on her.

The cold would also mean that food would become difficult for her to scavenge. He wouldn't let her go hungry…even now, should she find nothing suitable, Sesshomaru would make sure Jaken gathered food for her but in winter…In winter, Sesshomaru himself would have to hunt to feed the child.

It wasn't that he was incapable of these things…in all honestly, the castle in which his mother resided belonged to him and Rin could easily stay there and rely on them for food. She wouldn't be happy, not with his mother as her companion, but she would be dry, warm and well-fed.

But he wasn't sure he could trust his mother to protect Rin. After all, she had a twisted sense of what was considered acceptable behavior and no concern what so ever for human life.

Plus, leaving Rin with his mother would mean that he would periodically encounter her when he visited the girl, and he had no desire to spend more time with the woman than was strictly necessary. Even though he was nearly nine hundred and the rightful lord of the western lands, that she-demon mother of his had a strange way of bending him to her will that he found very unpleasant.

Crafty bitch.

The alternative was to leave Rin in a human village, but she had expressed a desire to never return to one, even temporarily. Admittedly, if she were with a family member that situation might change but should she decide to live with Yukichi it would be permanently.

He supposed he could try just dressing the girl in furs and continuing his travels, dealing with problems as they arose, but humans were always freezing to death no matter how well dressed they were.

So what if he left her with Yukichi? If she didn't want to be left behind she might try to follow him. But her brother would stop that kind of behavior and he would take care of her…or at the very least he would attempt to.

Then again, Yukichi was a jerk who knew nothing about Rin and was hardly fit to care for her. He was a bandit, or at least had been – he'd made no attempt to return to his people and they were certainly not looking for him – so he had no home and no land on which to support Rin. He was currently with out a family of his own, but when he mated and pupped, would he have the same sort of compassion for Rin as he did now? Or would he marry her off to the fist brute farmer that asked for her? Worst of all, he was imperfect, even for a human. A man with a missing eye was hardly the best choice to watch over a danger-prone child.

But the boy wasn't likely to have enemies that would put the girl in danger.

Damn.

When had life become so complicated?

"Uh…Sesshomaru-Sama?"

He looked down at the little girl who had appeared at his side. A glance confirmed that Yukichi was out of earshot, attempting to fish with much less grace or success than Rin displayed.

"Rin."

She smiled up at him, but it looked a little brittle. She tugged at the braid that had flopped over her shoulder nervously and looked over at Yukichi for herself before shoving a handful of flowers up to him. A few wilted weeds and a half dead lily that stank no less for the fact that it was on its last legs.

Well. That was an unfortunate development. But it was rude to refuse a gift and it would be downright unimaginable not to accept the things Rin offered him. Even if he did intend to leave these flowers behind in the same way he had left all the others, he took them from her fingers carefully. "Thank you Rin."

He had never thanked her before and her smile brightened instantly. That was a happy bonus, but it wasn't why he'd said it…he'd said it because Yukichi was watching them closely.

Rin skipped away to pester Jaken, Yukichi glared and Sesshomaru admitted to himself with grim satisfaction that he was undeniably the most devious demon in existence.

* * *

A/N: Hi again. Forgot to say THANK YOU!! To all the people who reviewed. So Thanks. And there are notes about this story in my profile if you have questions.


	4. Human

A/N: I suck. Sorry about the delay.

* * *

West of the Moon

Chapter Three

"Rin doesn't want to!"

Sesshomaru wasn't going to get involved unless Rin were in danger or involved him herself, but he was surprised at the violence of her reaction to her brother's question. She had never before raised her voice in anger and she had never outright refused to follow an order.

"I don't want to, Rin, _I _don't want to! You've got to stop referring to your self by name like that, it isn't normal!" Yukichi was clearly getting annoyed. "And I've a right to know what happened to our family, what happened to you when I left…I need to know."

"Rin does _not _want to talk about it!"

Sesshomaru suspected she had continued in the third person just to annoy her brother further, but he knew Rin was more prone to referring to herself by name when she was talking about things she found unpleasant. Her past was definitely one of those things.

But, now that it had been pointed out, a young human girl speaking in the third person was odd. Very odd. Odd to the extent that if she was going to fit in with normal people she was going to have to stop it, no matter how much didn't want to talk about the subject.

"Rin, you don't have to tell me, but I'll find out anyway. When we go back home, I'll just end up asking our neighbors," he threatened.

"NO!" Rin screeched, her eyes wide. Her brother reached out to comfort her, seeing her distress, but she skittered back like a crab. "No!"

Sesshomaru stepped forward, hand on the hilt of Bakusaiga, but he knew that he was reacting to Rin's panic more than he was reacting to any real threat to her. She crab walked her way right back into his shin and then hid herself behind his calf. When she had her hands wrapped around his ankle she shot her brother a look that promised murder and declared: "Rin will not go back! They hurt Rin! Rin is staying with Sesshomaru-Sama forever, he said so!"

Sesshomaru had said nothing of the sort, ever, but he was now officially involved in this debate and Rin had declared him to be on her side.

Now if only he could convince himself that he was the right person to take care of her it might all work out.

Yukichi was crouched before the two of them, mouth hanging open, looking like his world had just ended. Sesshomaru felt a thrill of victory at the sight but he knew it was wrong. He knew that, in the end, Rin was not supposed to travel with him, not forever. She was supposed to be with people. She was supposed to be with her brother.

And he knew that when Rin left him, he wouldn't be able to look as crushed as Yukichi did at that moment.

Sesshomaru shifted his hand on the hilt of his sword, drawing and slashing forward in one swift movement that made Rin squeal. Yukichi fell back with a shout, clutching at his face but Sesshomaru merely sheathed Tenseiga calmly.

"Rin." She looked up at him with wide eyes, waiting for his instructions. Her gaze flitted to Tenseiga and then back to his face, but she didn't ask why he had done what he had. "You will stay with Jaken. This Sesshomaru has things to discuss with your brother."

"Hai," she said, releasing his ankle at last and leaving without sparing a backward glance for her brother who was still in the dirt at Sesshomaru's feet.

As soon as her back was turned Sesshomaru snatched the man up in one claw, pressing him hard against the nearest tree. He struggled like a fish on a hook but Sesshomaru ignored it, ripping the eye patch away with his free hand.

Two undamaged black eyes blinked back at him and the man froze, only now seeming to realize that he had been healed. "You will not take Rin to that village," Sesshomaru warned, shaking Yukichi for emphasis. "You will find some place safe and you will build her a home to live in. You will keep her happy. You will feed her, dress her, and protect her. Hurt her and I'll rip that eye out of your head with my claws."

Yukichi nodded frantically and Sesshomaru dropped him in a heap against the roots of the tree. "You will have a year. If she is not happy with you at the end of that year, I am taking her with me." Yukichi nodded again, trying to find his feet.

Sesshomaru turned on his heel, leaving the man where he had fallen. Yukichi had just enough sense and too little breath to attempt to follow as Sesshomaru disappeared into the woods after Rin.

* * *

"Rin."

She was at his side almost instantly, almost before he was back in the clearing in which they had camped, and it was only then that Sesshomaru realized what he was doing…what he was giving up. He had no way to explain it to her, no way that she would understand, not when he himself only half understood the impulse to see her back among her own kind.

She was going to feel betrayed.

Damn.

"Rin." He reached down and very carefully took her hand in his, studying its size and strength. It was all but dwarfed in his; small, soft and weak. Human. Before he quite knew what he was doing he scooped her up towards him, hugging her close and inhaling that uniquely Rin scent. He had never held her like this before, and he never would again.

"Sesshomaru-Sama, Rin doesn't to go…I don't want to live with them."

She was whining but it didn't annoy him. "You will keep Ahun."

"Sesshomaru-Sama…" He could smell the salt on her, the salt of tears, and it made the back of his throat burn unpleasantly.

"You will go with that human," he told her. "This Sesshomaru wishes it."

"Was…was Rin bad?" she asked, voice wavering. She was clawing closer to him, wrapping her small arms around his neck and clutching tight but he didn't mind as long as she wasn't hurting herself against his armor.

"No," he whispered. He didn't know why he whispered, but it might have been because his throat felt tight and he enjoyed the warmth and scent of her when he pressed his nose into her ear. "Rin was very good. But Rin is human."

He meant that to mean that she would want the things that all humans wanted: home, family, security and comfort. Things he couldn't explain to an eight year old in any way that would make them feel important now but he knew she would grow to miss that normality in a few years. Life on the road for a human was a wasted life.

"No," she moaned, pressing her face into his white fur. "I don't want to be human; Rin wants to be with Sesshomaru-Sama."

Oh, this was hard. He had never denied her anything…it was easy when she asked for nothing. He had always told her to do as she pleased. But this…the more she begged to stay the more he knew she had to leave. She needed a family that would be there for her forever, a family that understood the life she was supposed to live. She needed people.

He forced himself to unbend his arms but it was harder to let her go than he had imagined. When her feet touched ground her arms slid limply from around his neck. They were eye to eye now, the little girl with a tear streaked face and the kneeling demon lord, and he was reminded of that first time he held her as she woke from death…She had trusted him then.

He was betraying that trust.

"You are human," he repeated and she scrubbed a fist over her eyes, trying not to cry anymore and failing miserably.

"I don't want –" He stopped her with a claw against her lips.

"It can't be helped." Sesshomaru knew he was being ridiculous…it was hardly fitting to feel such grief for a human, but there was no one to witness it but Rin and Jaken.

Very carefully, as though she were made of glass, Sesshomaru lifted her braid over her shoulder and untied the ridiculous bow at the end. As his fingers worked through it, untwisting the braid gently, Rin whispered, "Mama always told Rin that if she wanted long hair she had to keep it out of her face."

"Hn." Sesshomaru's claws moved closer to her scalp, scraping over her skin harmlessly and combing through her loose hair several times. "You may do what ever you wish with your hair." But that didn't stop him from brushing it back from her face and gathering the shorter hair into a drooping spike just to one side. His claws slipped a little on the silk of the ribbon as he tied it for her but she didn't seem mind the slight tug in the least.

"I will always remember you Sesshomaru-Sama," she whispered, hugging him again. Without prodding she released him and he unbent to stand before her. He dipped his head to her in recognition of the fact that he would not forget her either (A foolish question. A silly thing to say. Unforgettable.) and she tried to smile back through her tears.

He nodded towards Yukichi, who had picked himself up and was fidgeting uncomfortably while waiting for her at the edge of the river, and she turned towards him without protest. Ahun, however, made a joint snort of distress. "Go with her, Ahun. Don't let her get into trouble."

Sesshomaru watched as Rin and Yukichi disappeared hand in hand down the river trail, Rin's hair swinging loose down her back and Ahun floating lazily in the sky above her, and knew he had made the right decision. Rin was where she belonged.

Long after they had disappeared from sight, Sesshomaru himself turned the other way, walking back into the woods with his unusually silent retainer at his heel and knew he had made the biggest mistake of his life. Rin could survive without him but Sesshomaru needed her.

She had been gone an hour and already his life was empty.

* * *

A year. He had promised Yukichi and a year to gather the things required to keep Rin in comfort.

And he had made that promise a year ago today.

And now here he was, demon lord and fighter supreme, lurking in the woods like a pup afraid of the thunder. He knew that Yukichi had settled here, knew he was providing Rin with food and shelter…Sesshomaru been unable to resist the urge to peek every now and again just to confirm that the man was holding up his end of the deal. But now…Now he would get to examine it all for himself.

He knew that if Rin had been in danger Ahun would have found a way to bring her to him, so he had no fear of finding her harmed, but…what if she was unhappy? What if she hated this life? Sesshomaru had still not found a good solution to care for Rin while he traveled.

…What if she was happy?

He paced the tree line again, glaring down at the village. What if Rin was happy? She might be. In the few times he had looked in on the village he had been careful to avoid the girl because he knew that if she were to ask to leave he would take her instantly, and that wouldn't be fair to Yukichi or to Rin. This human life was what she deserved.

But he hadn't seen her in a year. Would a year have made her forget him? How much would a year have aged her? Would she still be Rin?

Jaken stood quaking a few yards away asking the very same questions. "Is Rin coming back to us My Lord?"

Sesshomaru turned to him – maybe to answer, maybe to kick him – but the sound of a village girl squealing "Rin-Chan!" reached him and he froze. The girl was answered with a familiar giggle which filled his ears and drowned out everything else.

"No," he answered shortly, setting off into the trees again as fast as possible, leaving Jaken behind. No, Rin was not coming back. Rin was happy.

He realized now that he had hoped to find her miserable. He had wanted her to want to come back. It wasn't that he was mean, he was selfish. But happy…happy was what Rin deserved and he couldn't bring himself to see her now. She was happy without him and if he saw her he didn't think he could bear to leave her again. But taking her away would make her sad. She would hate him.

He wished he could have seen her, inhaled her scent, but…

Rin was happy.

Sesshomaru hated that damn human village.


	5. Flight

A/N: See? I can post in a timely manner. Not.

* * *

West of the Moon

Chapter Four

Seven Years Later

Rin hated this village.

She knew that wasn't a fair thing to say…she had lived in worse places, after all, and she really didn't mind this place so much…but the human animal could just be so annoying!

If she were being fair, she could acknowledge that there were times when she was happy here. After all, she had a few friends, she had a brother who loved her, and she had a place to call home…

But she also had a pet dragon she wouldn't give up for the world, recognized no lord beyond Sesshomaru and was never too popular among the village people. In short, she was a freak.

When she had first come here with her brother, she had tried very hard to fit in. But Yukichi…well, walking into a village with a two headed dragon at your heels tended to draw attention and the headman had come to investigate. She could still remember sitting astride Ahun just outside the man's hut – his wife had invited her in, but she felt safer with the dragon – listening to Yukichi explain. "She's my sister, sir, and after the bandits killed our family…she's just not the same. All I want is a place to live, a place where she can be with people again."

The headman had asked what that meant, asked about Ahun, and Yukichi's answer still brought tears to her eyes. "She was taken by a youkai and I fear she'll never be the same."

It was worse when the headman's son spread the story around the village.

She had tried, until then, to be as good as possible. Yukichi had been readily accepted into the village and many of their neighbors would drop by their small hut to offer help or food or blankets in those first days while curiosity was fresh and the rumors were sparse. Rin was always the one to take their offerings gratefully and never offered a hint of trouble.

"She's so good," they said. "So quiet."

So scarred. Rin had no trouble making friends, not with children, but she never quite knew how to react around the adults. They often said one thing and did another.

It took a few days, but then a woman had come to their door with a little girl at her heels and Rin had been delighted. Within minutes the two had disappeared, giggling, to mingle with all the other children.

Rin decided then that maybe Sesshomaru-Sama had sent her away so that she could have friends she _didn't _have to say good bye to at the end of the day.

She had been happy. Yukichi had been proud. And, for the first time since arriving there, Rin slept in the hut and not curled up outside with Ahun.

Shigechiyo, the headman's son, had ruined it all by telling everyone who would listen that she was a demon's slave and that she was wrong in the head. Objectively, she hadn't helped herself when she'd yelled at him publicly and told him that if he ever insulted her again she would find Sesshomaru-Sama and make sure Shigechiyo was killed, "Damnit!" but…Rin had never been good at being picked on. At least, not since she'd met Sesshomaru.

She was insulted and she had missed him so much that it hurt to hear people speak badly about him.

After that day she'd lost all the friends she made. The people who had called her polite were now telling their children that she was mad, that she couldn't be trusted, that there was some sort of evil living in her…

Ironically, it had made Yukichi _more _popular. What a brave man he was, caring for his mad sister and snatching her back from the demons!

Rin had tried to make Ahun take her back to Sesshomaru, but the dragon wouldn't do it. He would take her flying, he would protect her, he would help her with any other thing she asked of him but he never took her to his master and he never let her spend a night away from the village.

In the end it was probably a good thing…if she had left, she would never have gotten to see the beating Shigechiyo had received when his father found out about the rumors he had been spreading. And she would never have become friends with Hisa, the headman's daughter.

Rin knew Hisa had been sent to play with her by her mother, but she hadn't minded. Yukichi might care for her but he did not have time to amuse her and he certainly didn't understand her. Hisa had been afraid at first – Rin had taken to sitting with Ahun all day now that the children wanted nothing to do with her – but before the end of the day the two were giggling like sisters.

By the end of the week you rarely saw one without the other.

They had a lot in common, really: neither one liked Shigechiyo, neither one cared much for dolls and they were practically the same age. Hisa even developed a taste for flying, so long as Ahun stayed low enough to skim the trees.

Hisa didn't understand at all about Sesshomaru, but that was all right.

And being friends with Hisa meant Rin could play with the other children as well. They weren't _friendly _about it, but they didn't ignore her anymore. It was progress.

Before Rin knew it, she'd lived there a year. She wasn't as happy as she had been with her parents, she wasn't as happy as she had been with Sesshomaru (she still dreamt of him, still missed him, still tried to bribe Ahun to take her back), but she wasn't unhappy either.

And, if she thought she'd seen Jaken looking mournful at the edge of the forest, Yukichi could accept that she spent the rest of the day crying. It was nothing compared to the night she had woken, swearing she had heard Sesshomaru-Sama's voice, and refused to eat for two whole days.

But she got older, Hisa got older, Yukichi married, she learnt to work the fields…life went on. Normal life. And she fit in alright…

As much as a girl with a dragon could.

_"She was taken by a youkai and I fear she'll never be the same."_

It was true. She could tell her self she was happy – and she was! At least, as happy as she could ever be in a village. But she felt out of place. It was like she was acting…because, when push came to shove, she didn't _want _a human life.

Yukichi had married and she had been happy. When you're ten and your brother marries one of the nicest, prettiest girls you've ever met, the life of a human looks idyllic. When Yukichi and Niwa had had their first child Rin had been overjoyed. After all, who didn't love a baby? And Niwa even trusted her enough to let her help care for the child.

But that child was four now, with a younger brother and a third baby on the way. Life was less idyllic when filled with diapers.

Rin frowned at the thought. That wasn't fair either. She loved her brother's children, just as she loved Niwa and Yukichi, and she didn't mind in the least helping to care for them. In all honesty, she still got along with children better than adults. Besides, they weren't the reason she hated this village.

She hated this village because Hisa was seventeen and getting married. Rin knew it was normal, knew it was the life Hisa wanted, but her only real friend was getting married and starting a family and Rin would loose her.

It was selfish to be upset over it. Rin knew she was being childish about it, but it didn't matter. She didn't fit in here, only Hisa really accepted her and soon Hisa would have her own family. Rin would still be her friend, but Hisa would have other priorities to attend to.

And Hisa had implied that maybe Rin would too…

She _hated _this village!

Shigechiyo, twenty, unmarried, handsome, rich and poised to be the next headman, had decided that he loved her. And he was asking Yukichi for permission to marry her.

There was no way Yukichi would refuse…at sixteen and with no other prospects of marriage, Rin was well on her way to becoming an old maid. Niwa had told her years ago that she would have to put out a little effort if she wanted to snag a husband and from that moment on Rin had done the opposite. She very much did _not _want a husband to cook and clean for. A child would be alright, she supposed, but a husband? No. She was _not _going to spend her life with some dull man, playing out a lie.

She had been cured of any desire to live amongst humans when Denzo's decapitated had had rolled to a stop at her feet, staring up at her with empty eyes that had scared her so much she hadn't been able to scream.

Shigechiyo loved her because she was pretty and because she was unusual. He had picked on her for the same reason. All people were that way…the face they presented was never true to their intentions.

The villagers that had been her neighbors all her life had become her tormentors after her parents deaths. Hisa had declared that she would never forget Rin but she was always with her future husband. Yukichi had been a bandit and then changed back again…

The only people who said what they meant were children. And even they grew up.

So no, she wasn't going to marry Shigechiyo. And no, she wasn't going to help Niwa with the new baby. And she wasn't going to clap when Hisa married. And she wasn't going grow old and die while pretending she was someone she wasn't.

Because she wasn't going to stay.

Ahun might not take her to Sesshomaru, but he would take her out of the village. He would also try to take her back at night, but that didn't mean he would succeed. Once she was away, she could do what ever she wanted.

True, she didn't know how to defend her self and true, she couldn't survive winter alone and true, she had no plan besides "get away" but if this adventure got her killed at least she could die free.

That wasn't quite as comforting a thought as she had intended it to be but she wasn't about to change her mind about it now.

Carefully sidestepping her sleeping brother, Rin edged towards the doorway. The sun wasn't up yet, but it would be soon and then she would never be able to make her escape. She didn't want to just disappear…it would be rude to leave her brother without a goodbye. Niwa would be crushed. So would her niece, her nephew, Hisa…

Rin bit back a sob and slid through the doorway, clutching her small bundle of clothing and food to her chest. This was what she wanted to do, this was what she needed…and she had to make a clean break. If she was leaving and didn't want them to stop her then she had to get away without saying goodbye.

And, she reminded her self as she roused Ahun from his slumber and clambered onto his back, she hated this village.

She held back her tears until the dragon was high in the air and far from the village. But she knew in her heart that she had made the right choice.

* * *

"Lord Sesshomaru?" Jaken questioned tentatively. Sesshomaru didn't react. "Lord Sesshomaru, your generals will be wondering where-"

"She's not there."

Jaken blinked at the interruption, looking up at Sesshomaru in his battle armor. He looked more frightening than usual with his father's armor on and his typical white clothing exchanged for black. The red of the embroidered honeycomb and flower crest at his neck and sleeves looked like blood.

"Who's not where, my Lord?"

"Rin," he answered shortly. Whit his hair pulled back high on his head it made even Lord Sesshomaru's ears look fierce and Jaken gulped, turning his attention from his master to the village in the small valley before them.

The village Rin lived in.

No wonder Jaken had found his lord standing here…he often deviated his travels to pass by this place and confirm that Rin was safe. With battle raging not far from here it suddenly seemed obvious that Sesshomaru would want to check on her.

But…

"Where is she Lord Sesshomaru?"

Sesshomaru was already in motion, making his way out of the shadow of the trees and down the slope to the village. Jaken squawked and hurried after him.

After Rin had left, Sesshomaru had been different. Cold. Well, a different _kind_ of cold, perhaps.

He had always desired power, always planned on empire…but after the first year of Rin's absence he had thrown himself into battle, taking as much land as he could by force. And then there had come the treaties and the alliances…so much talking and threatening and deal making that Jaken's head was still spinning.

And then the marriage.

That proposition still pissed Jaken off. How could Sesshomaru have been so _stupid_?

Not that he was ever going to express that opinion out loud.

But really. _Lord Sesshomaru _got _married_ to get more _land_. That wasn't right!

At least, it wasn't when you married the daughter of your biggest land rival. How was that not obviously some kind of trap? And Sesshomaru had walked right into it!

At least his thrice damned bride had died before there could have been any children. At least Sesshomaru had disliked her as much as, if not more than, Jaken did. But still! _Married!_

No wonder Sesshomaru had such a terrible war on his hands…the unexplained death of his rival's daughter didn't look good. Especially when her death meant that Sesshomaru's treaty with their clan was now null and void.

Not that that seemed to matter to Sesshomaru. He had merely looked at his dead wife, muttered a "Hn," and assembled an army to counter that of his former father-in-law. He actually seemed relatively glad to have an excuse to assemble his army and engage in all out battle.

A battle he was currently ignoring because he couldn't locate Rin.

Jaken was worried about her too, of course, but a battle certainly out weighed one human girl. Besides, the silly child had Ahun to look after her and there was no way that the dragon would let any harm come to her.

Sesshomaru seemed not to agree because he was still intent on making his way into the village and was gathering quite a crowd. It was just after dawn and the village was well into its daily routine but every one stopped to stare as the Taiyoukai walked down the street.

The silence felt eerie.

Lightning quick Sesshomaru's hand darted out – a woman screamed – and suddenly Yukichi was hanging in his claws. "Where is Rin?" Sesshomaru's growl was low and dangerous, barely audible, and the humans around them seem torn between leaning in to hear him and running away screaming. Most of the men clutched at their hoes like weapons but made no move to attack.

Yukichi burbled something and Sesshomaru dropped him with a thud. Almost instantly a very pregnant woman was at his side, clutching on to him and looking up at Sesshomaru wide eyed.

Sesshomaru ignored her.

"Where is Rin?" he repeated more clearly and a startled gasp went through the circle of villagers, all of them suddenly nudging each other and whispering. But no one was answering.

Bakusaiga sung as he pulled it from its scabbard and they all silenced instantly, frozen on the spot. The whimper of a child cut the silence but even that petered out in the tension. "Where is Rin?"

There was a sudden scuffle to his right, someone hissed "No!" but then a girl was pulling free of a man's grasp and stumbling into the opening that had formed around Sesshomaru.

She fell to her knees at his feet, trembling and afraid to look up. Her voice shook when she asked, "Please, a-are you Lord Sesshomaru?"

"Where is Rin?"

"Lord Sesshomaru, Rin was…Rin left. She didn't tell us where she was going, she just left!" The girl looked up now and Sesshomaru could see the fear on her face, the tears in her eyes. "Please, Lord Sesshomaru, please…we didn't know she was unhappy here. I didn't think that…I should have…"

The girl was babbling, not making any sense beyond the fact that Rin had left.

"What is your name?"

"Hi-Hisa," the girl said around her sobs. "We j-just want Rin back!"

Hisa. He had heard Rin shout that name before while playing. This was a friend of Rin's. "Why did Rin leave?"

"I don't…" she shook her head and pulled in another shuddering breath. "She didn't want to stay here and marry. She was always telling me she wanted to be away from humans. I thought that…When Shigechiyo asked her to marry…I thought she would stay! I should have been with her…"

Sesshomaru had no patience with crying females and no time to waste getting the whole story. It was enough to know that Rin had left, that Rin had never been happy, that Rin did not want to marry whichever of these snot-nosed boys it was that had asked her too.

"When?"

Hisa blinked up at him, throat working as she tried to speak. It was the pregnant woman with Yukichi – his mate, Sesshomaru realized – who answered. "She snuck out four mornings ago my Lord."

Hisa nodded. "Please," she begged, "Just bring Rin back to us!"

"Hn." Without further thought he had taken to the air, disappearing in a flash of light. Below him Hisa wailed and Jaken was grateful that, for once, he had managed to snag hold of Sesshomaru's fur before he was left behind.


	6. Missing

West of the Moon

Chapter Five

"Let me go!" Rin screamed, struggling against the very large ogre that had her smothered against his chest with one arm. She was kicking and punching at him even though she knew it wouldn't help. "Let go of me!"

Ahun bucked, trying his best to come to her aid but the enormous snake demon wrapped around him only laughed at the attempt.

"I don't think sssso, my pet," he cooed at her. She lashed out especially hard at the ogre in an attempt to hide her fear. "You and your little dragon belong to us now."

"Put me down!" she screamed again. Her fists were bloody with pounding and the ogre hadn't even been bruised.

"Yesss, put her down," agreed the snake. "She looksss tasssty." His blue tongue flicked over this scaly lips and Rin screamed again.

"Cut it out, you." The panther demon glided back into the clearing and poked the snake with a claw. The snake backed down, throwing another coil of his body around Ahun with a sulk.

The panther demon tossed her hair over her shoulder and stretched luxuriously before looking up at Rin, who was still trying to wriggle out of the ogre's grasp. "Tried to run away again, did you?"

"Wouldn't you?" Rin shot back. "Now let me go!"

The panther only laughed. "Oh, we intend to. None of us have any use for you. At least, not alive." A motion of her claws had the ogre dropping Rin from several feet up with a bark of laughter.

"Ow!" Rin hissed, grabbing at her leg and fighting back a rush of tears. Ahun flailed again, their twin muzzles clacking together, but Rin got an idea. Clawing her way to her feet and ignoring the sharp wave of pain that shot through her leg she charged head on towards the dragon.

She even managed to dig her fingers into the gap between the muzzle and Ah's snout before the snake tried to bat her away. She clung tightly, trying to undo the strap with one hand, but Ahun was bucking, the snake was thrashing and the panther demon had snatched hold of her as well.

Fire raced up her leg and she could feel claws raining down on her and her shoulder wrenched as the snake and dragon struggled but before the darkness clouded her vision she saw the muzzle strap give way.

The blackened trees brought Sesshomaru to a stop. This part of the forest was close to his enemy's camp, but most certainly hadn't been part of the battle. This was something different. Something that might help him find Rin.

Almost before his feet had touched ground Sesshomaru was scenting the air. The ash made it difficult to tell, but there was the lingering stink of ogre and the sharp tang of panther. The rest was…reptilian.

He sniffed again, turning his head and pacing the perimeter. The fire had been more electric than flame, more like lightning…Ahun. It was confirmed by the charred muzzle that he had just crushed beneath his boot.

So Rin had been here. Ahun would not have left her behind and the stench of cat and charred wood were easily strong enough to overpower the scent of a human.

He continued his patrol of the burnt perimeter anyway, searching for clues as to who had been victorious in this battle, which way they had gone…and crossed the path of the panther demon. She had fled into the woods with what smelt like a very bloody Rin.

Damn.

He followed the trail quickly, Jaken long forgotten in the clearing, gauging the trails age. The panther had made no attempt to hide her trail, she was probably intent on escaping the destruction, but it had been several days – Two? Three? – since she had passed through.

He was lucky the droplets of blood along the trail kept the scent strong enough to follow. But it was all Rin's blood.

He didn't know why he was hunting her down exactly…he'd told himself when he had left her in that village that she was no longer his concern. So it wasn't as if it were his fault that she was in danger. It wasn't his duty to save her.

Then again, if she were of no concern to him he would not have stopped by to check on her through the years.

And anyway, this had nothing to do with Rin…he was only trying to find Ahun, who was still one of his vassals, and hunt down part of his enemies army. That was certainly something worth rushing off into the woods without informing his generals for, wasn't it?

Of course it was.

Suddenly the trail he was following began to bounce around…here, to the left, the right, up into the trees…He couldn't understand why until he came across another burnt tree. Ahun must have tracked the panther down, attempted to rescue Rin. But then why would the dragon fire at the girl?

Unless Rin was dead, of course. But Sesshomaru didn't detect the scent of death, only blood. Perhaps Ahun had been trying to prevent the panther from escaping to somewhere the dragon couldn't follow?

He stepped forward, following the panther's stench and realized that was exactly what it was. Shimmering in the air before him was a massive barrier…a pure barrier. How strange.

Power like this could come only from those with spiritual powers so why would a demon take refuge behind it? He tested the barrier's strength with a claw.

It was strong. He could very easily walk through it unharmed, but Ahun would have been purified. Apparently the panther had been able to make it through unharmed though, because this was where the trail ended.

Damn.

So then, his enemy was playing dirty and using the tricks Naraku had invented…hiding behind a pure barrier.

It would make sneak attacks impossible and it would mean that some of his army would be destroyed if they tried to pass through but for Sesshomaru and his generals this would be nothing more than an annoyance.

But now the question was: go through the barrier and get Rin or go back to his generals?

Instinct told him Rin was his priority but logic insisted that behind that barrier lay the bulk of Tomoji's army. He might very well be the deadliest demon in existence but…it would be unwise to charge into a battle of one demon against an army when he had an army of his own.

Besides which this trail was three days old and Rin had been missing for four. There was every possibility that she was no longer behind this barrier or that she had died, meaning that his interference would do nothing to help her.

Then again, she could be injured, needing help, dying while he debated his options. How irritating.

Go on or go back? Risk Rin's life or risk his empire?

He'd made the right choice and a mistake the last time he'd asked himself that question. He didn't intend to do that again.

The air around him sizzled as he stepped through the barrier and resumed the hunt.


	7. Searching

A/N: I am so *so* sorry you all are getting this late.

West of the Moon

Chapter Six

"Lord Sesshomaru? Lord Sesshomaru? Where are you?"

There was no answer but Jaken hadn't really expected one. "Always getting left behind," he muttered, clutching at his staff. "Never know where he gets off too. Lord Sesshomaru?"

Jaken followed after his master as well as he could…he had no real way to track him and his tiny legs could never keep up, but he was nothing if not determined. "Oh. What did you take off after this time?" he wondered aloud. "We shouldn't even be out here, not so close to the enemy, and – gah!" Jaken tripped forward, barely catching himself before he landed beak first in…blood?

It was! There, in front of his nose, was the reason Sesshomaru had taken off so quickly: a few dried specks of human blood!

"Is this Rin's blood?" he asked no one in particular. "Rin! Lord Sesshomaru! Rin!"

There was still no answer but Jaken trundled on anyway, tracking his way through the trees by moving from speck of blood to speck of blood. "Stupid girl, even grown up she's got me following after her and having to save her," he grouched. "When I get my hands on her…"

When he got his hands on her, he was going to hug her. And then he was going to kill her.

"What?" Jaken sputtered, jabbing ineffectually at the barrier before him with the Staff of Two Heads. "Lord Sesshomaru!"

He didn't know just what had happened, but he knew that if Rin had gone beyond this barrier, Sesshomaru probably had too. And he couldn't follow.

"Lord Sesshomaru, are you trying to loose me? Lord Sesshomaru! Rin!" Jaken paused but no one answered and there were no rocks tossed at his head. "Anyone? What am I supposed to do now?" he wailed.

But then there was a strange snort behind him and Jaken turned only to find that he was nearly beak-to-snout with one of Ahun's twin heads.

"Ahun!" He was torn between patting the beast he hadn't seen in so long and bashing it in the skull for sneaking up behind her. But then the head he wasn't staring him down rubbed against his side affectionately and Jaken decided friendly was the best approach. A pat it was. "Ahun, where's Rin? And have you seen Lord Sesshomaru?"

The dragon's tail lashed and both heads glared daggers at the shimmering disturbance in the air. Jaken thought he might have even heard a growl from the generally silent beast.

"What are we going to do? We can't follow them through this!" Ahun's tail lashed again. "Lord Sesshomaru!" Jaken yelled again into the silent barrier.

Ahun snuffled again and both heads shoved at him and Jaken nearly stumbled through the barrier. "Hey! What did Rin teach you in that village?" Another shove. "Gah! Two heads and neither one have manners!"

Ahun snorted. And then Jaken found himself being tossed up and onto Ahun's back. "What are you-Whoa!" he cried, clutching at the nearest handful of main and lamenting the loss of the dragon's saddle as the beast took to the air. "Hey! Maybe we can find them from up here!" Jaken crowed. "And we can figure out what's being hidden behind this barrier!"

Both heads grunted in unison as though that's what they'd been suggesting all along.

* * *

"Hn." Sesshomaru's breath curled in front of his nose at the slight exhalation. Despite the fact that it was fast becoming one of the hottest summers in memory, this little bubble of air was near freezing…the grass was frosted, the flowers were wilting and there were even a few errant snow flakes.

But, Sesshomaru supposed, all of that was to be expected when you put a few ice demons together inside a barrier.

Tomoji – his former bride's father – was an exceptionally powerful ice demon from far in the north. Strength was rather an unusual trait in a demon of the elements…most of them were nothing more than low-level annoyances. Any real power over elements belonged to more god like creatures. But Tomoji and his clan were very powerful, very dangerous and very, very few in numbers.

That was part of the reason both Sesshomaru and Tomoji had been agreeable to the union. There were no direct male heirs to the northern lands and he hardly trusted his daughters to have the power or cunning to keep his kingdom after his death. There were, of course, a few cousins and the generals of his army, but no one of them matched the demonic power of his family.

If one of his daughters wed a foreign Taiyoukai and produced heirs, however, there could be no doubt that the land would be taken care of.

And Tomoji also had no doubts that his any of his daughters could produce a suitable heir and then kill off her unfortunate, unsuspecting husband, thus securing a heir to the northern lands and an indisputable heir to whatever lands the dead husband had controlled.

Sesshomaru, on the other hand, saw a quick way to gain more land. On the plus side, a powerful and unusually talented wife would produce powerful and unusually talented pups. He had no fears that he would be overthrown either, because no matter how powerful a wife he took there was doubt that he was the superior demon.

Besides, if you got right down to it, there were really no female demons of his own species available and to have heirs one had to mate with someone…The ice demons had been convenient. And, with so few of them in existence, there could be no one to contest his son's right to rule the north when the time came.

It was a shame, then, that Mitoyo had died before giving him an heir. That could have solved all of his problems.

But, they had wed, she had died and here they were…fighting over land that Sesshomaru wanted and Tomoji would not relinquish. Of course, technically, Tomoji had invaded Sesshomaru's territories in a preemptive move, but that didn't change the fact that this war was unavoidable. Besides, Sesshomaru preferred to fight on his own ground anyway.

And yet none of that had anything to do with why he was here. He was here – trekking through unnatural winter in a spiritually shielded bubble occupied by an invading enemy army – in search of Rin. His Rin.

His wounded, probably frozen, kidnapped Rin.

Huh. Perhaps he was quite like his father…he was all but giving himself to the enemy for the sake of a human woman.

Not, of course, that he had any intention of giving himself up, or even being discovered in this place.

Nor did he love the human woman he was here to rescue.

Perhaps they weren't so similar then.

The glass like ice on the grass shattered beneath his boots and Sesshomaru marveled again at the sheer strength of the family he had married into. Elemental demons were rarely strong but Tomoji, and his family, were incapable of containing their power. Even when they didn't mean to they radiated cold…In the two months in which his wife had lived in his palace she had managed to kill all but the hardiest of the plants in his garden.

That development had bothered him, but as he rarely had the time or inclination to enjoy the gardens he had said nothing. It had annoyed his mother to no end, though, which was a slight comfort. At least the cold had not actually physically bothered either him or his mother…They both registered the change, but neither felt it to be an annoyance.

This barrier, however, was much colder than the palace had been. It might have been because it was enclosed, but Sesshomaru suspected it had more to do with the fact that Tomoji had gathered together as much of his family and generals for this fight as he could manage.

It seemed another side effect of being one of the last of his kind was a determination to fight an all out battle for survival. And to employ dirty tactics to keep themselves safe. Sacred barrier indeed. Ridiculous.

But then a new scent struck Sesshomaru's sensitive nose…he had been following Rin's trail, a trail that was remarkably preserved in the cold air, but now it was all but overlaid by the scent of lilies. How odd.

Any animal with a sense of smell could tell you that Lilies were a terribly malodorous flower that should be avoided at all coasts. They confused scent trails, stopped up sensitive noses and generally left scent reliant hunters going in circles. Ice demons weren't known for their sense of smell.

Dog demons were.

The flowers explained why there were panther demons camping out side of the barrier. The cold explained why the snakes were. The ogre…well, ogres weren't known for being terribly bright.

But had Tomoji planned this? Did he intend to force Sesshomaru to come to him with only a portion of his army, those that could survive the barrier, and then confuse him in the stench? Or was it all coincidence?

Sesshomaru doubted that somehow. Tomoji was nothing if not devious. And he was probably smart enough to know that even frozen, dead lilies still stank enough to cause serious problems.

It was fortunate then that Sesshomaru was here scouting the area out. It was also fortunate that no one had yet realized he was here or laid a trap for him. This unexpected visit might prove very beneficial to Sesshomaru's victory.

Unfortunately, it was doing nothing for accomplishing his more immediate goal: locate, retrieve and deposit Rin back at his palace.

The scent of the flowers was concealing her location. Damn.

They were also going to hide the scent of any attacker that may come across him. Double damn.

* * *

"Just how big is this stupid barrier, anyway?" Jaken groused. From the air the enclosed area seemed enormous…It was at the very least large enough to enclose most of the forest. "And where has Sesshomaru gotten to?"

Ahun dipped a little lower, nearly skimming the wavering air with his talons and Jaken all but tumbled from his back. "Idiot! I could have fallen and…is that snow?" Ignoring the fact that he was holding on to the dragon with only one small hand Jaken leaned further towards the spiritual energy. "It is! Look, Ahun, snow! In summer! But…that must mean that there are more ice demons in there than we thought. What if they've captured Lord Sesshomaru?"

Jaken knew without a doubt that Sesshomaru was ridiculously strong and fully capable of destroying an ice demon. He also knew, although he'd never admit it, that Sesshomaru could not destroy an ice demon with out injury. And two ice demons would be too much for Sesshomaru to destroy alone. So if his lord had encountered an ice demon in there…there was every possibility that Jaken was never going to get that position in the new empire because there was every possibility that Sesshomaru wouldn't be around to give it to him.

"Why couldn't you have waited for your generals?" Jaken railed at the barrier. "Stupid dog demons thinking they can do everything by them selves! Wait!" Jaken nearly tumbled off the dragon again in his sudden excitement. "Sesshomaru's generals! Quick, Ahun, if we go back to them now we can tell them about Sesshomaru and the barrier and how there's a whole bunch of those stupid snow makers! They'll know what to do about all this!"

Ahun huffed but Jaken just tugged on their manes, trying to turn them back the way they had come. "Let's go, let's go! Faster! Don't you want to help Lord Sesshomaru?" The dragon paused mid flight as though thinking about it. "It'll help Rin too!" Jaken added. Ahun huffed again and wasted no time in turning around.


	8. Found

West of the Moon

Chapter Seven

Well. Tracking without scent was certainly nothing new – Naraku had forced him to practice the technique – but it was a definite annoyance. So far the panther demon he was tracking had followed a relatively straight path so there was little fear that the demon had deviated now, but only a fool would wonder through enemy territory guided only by assumption.

So then, his next best option was his ears for immediate danger. Even the crunch of ice could be enough to warn him of an approaching foe. As for hunting down Rin, he would have to rely on sight to show him the trail the panther had traveled. What an annoyingly unsophisticated way to hunt.

Luckily, the panther had not feared pursuit and was none too careful about the trail she left. There were quite a few sets of prints but only one set left by strangely clawed human-like feet. There were even a few splashes of blood here and there. Rin's bleeding had obviously been slowing by this point but apparently hadn't stopped. Sesshomaru set off after her with renewed determination.

He would find Rin. She would be in acceptable condition. And he would kill anyone and everyone who stood in his way.

After all, with him or not, Rin was always on his mind. He had promised not to forget her and dogs were nothing if not loyal.

* * *

There was a sudden flurry of activity when an unidentified two-headed dragon landed in the middle of Sesshomaru's camp but Jaken's easily identified shrieks assured everyone that the intruder was friendly if not exactly welcome. "Jiroemon! Kiyoshi!" the toad-like demon cried, all but falling at the feet of the two dog demons. "Lord Sesshomaru has gone through the barrier!"

Sesshomaru's generals – one of them a cousin and the other an even more distantly related cousin – looked at each other doubtfully. "What barrier?" Jiroemon asked.

"The barrier, the barrier! Those ice bastards put up a spiritual barrier and Lord Sesshomaru went through it!"

"Can't be a very strong barrier, then, can it?" Kiyoshi joked. Jiroemon glared at him and he stopped smiling suddenly. Although not closely related, Sesshomaru's generals looked enough alike to have been brothers. Like all of Sesshomaru's pack they shared pale skin and silvery hair, but neither man bore markings and only Jiroemon could claim to have golden eyes. Jaken always thought they were more of a brown color himself.

That didn't prevent him from glaring well enough to rival Sesshomaru though. But Kiyoshi was the more terrifying of the two…He was the only inuyoukai Jaken had ever met who gave any outward sign of his emotions which often resulted in enormous shows of rage that seemed to shift more quickly than the wind.

And it was a suddenly sobered, irritated Kiyoshi that fixed Jaken with a glare. "Barrier. Explain. Now."

Jaken gulped. Dog demons were going to be the death of him.

* * *

There was an encampment up ahead. And somewhere in that encampment Rin was being held prisoner.

Without the use of his nose the exact size of the force in front of him was hard to determine but it seemed to be made up primarily of bear and boar youkai. Sesshomaru had spotted a fair scattering of Panther's and fox among their ranks as well, but it wasn't the quality of his opponents as much as it was quantity. One on one there was no doubt Sesshomaru could take them all. Even grouped liked this they would not pose any threat to him, but it would take time to destroy them all and one or two of the quicker demons might escape to tell Tomoji that he had explored the barrier. And since his goal was to rescue Rin he would have to let those stray demons live while he carried her back to safety.

And where was Rin, exactly? He was hardly going to attack without at least some confirmation that Rin was still among them. It would be foolish to attack them only to discover that she had been taken further into the forest and it would be dangerous to attack too close to her location…a human caught in demonic crossfire was not likely to survive long enough to be rescued.

Sesshomaru drifted a little closer, maintaining his cover in the shadowed trees, trying to judge the best angle of attack. At least now the scent of the lilies was working in his favor: the enemy could not sniff him out. And with the concentration of demonic presence here the arrival of his aura went unquestioned.

"How long do you think it'll take?"

Sesshomaru drew back a little as the fox strolled by with a boar at his side.

"Dunno," the boar answered, sounding bored. "Maybe today. Maybe a week from now. It's already lived longer than I thought it would."

The fox laughed. "You don't know much about humans, do you? They look pretty fragile but they just keep fighting 'till they wear themselves out. Don't give up easily." He barked out a laugh again. "And they're so much fun to play with! A few years back I got a group of them convinced they were being haunted by…" The conversation trailed off as the pair moved away, but they had confirmed one thing for Sesshomaru. There was at least one human here, and it was probably near wherever they had come from.

And it was probably Rin.

Sesshomaru darted through the trees to find out.

* * *

"How big a barrier?" Jiroemon asked, shocked.

Kiyoshi whistled. "Impressive. Tomoji isn't pulling his punches. And you're sure you saw frost?"

Jaken nodded so hard he was practically jumping.

"Well. They certainly brought out all the big guns. Guess us dog demon's are a threat after all."

Jiroemon narrowed his eyes a little and Jaken fidgeted. "You haven't told us about Lord Sesshomaru, though. Do you think he's gone into combat? Why did he enter the barrier in the first place?"

Kiyoshi snorted while Jaken fidgeted. "Right. You expected him to find out Tomoji's hiding behind a barrier and not just go in unprepared? This is _Sesshomaru._ He's not exactly a team player."

"He's not stupid either," Jiroemon shot back. "So what's really going on here, Jaken?"

"Uh…Heh," Jaken hedged, inching closer to Ahun. "He was, uh, looking for someone? Err…"

Sesshomaru would kill him for telling them about Rin but the two dog demons before him would kill him if he didn't tell them about just what Sesshomaru was doing.

"Remember a few years ago when Naraku was around and Sesshomaru had a human girl following him around?"

"What about it? I heard he ate her," Kiyoshi dismissed.

"Well…not exactly." Jaken pressed back into Ahun and tried – for once – to make the story as short as possible.

* * *

"What?" Kiyoshi fumed. Jiroemon looked exceptionally stony and didn't try to interrupt. "Has he gone completely insane? A human? Lord Sesshomaru is risking victory for some human chit? Damn it, I guess it runs in they family."

Jiroemon shot him a murderous look, lips pressed thin in anger.

"Like you weren't thinking it," Kiyoshi grouched in response. "He's got a damn half breed for a brother and now he's gonna spawn one of his own to put in power. And we're helping him! Damn it all to hell."

"Hey!" Jaken protested. "Rin's not…she's…She's Rin! Lord Sesshomaru wouldn't…Gah! Rin's just an annoying human girl Lord Sesshomaru saved once. He would never…and she wouldn't…No! Just no!"

It maybe wasn't the most elegant defense but the fact that Jaken had all but exploded in horror at the thought of Sesshomaru caring about Rin seemed to convince Jiroemon at least that there was no threat of hanyou pups. Kiyoshi had grumbled a little but in the end even he repented.

"Fine," he grunted. "So how do we get the idiot out of this one?"

* * *

Sesshomaru knew he was wasting time he might not get back with all the creeping around he was doing, but it couldn't be helped. In almost any other situation he wouldn't have bothered with stealth. In most cases, showing up and killing everyone was both the best option and the fastest way to achieve his goals. But in this case he had to save Rin and not destroy his chances of winning his war for empire.

Damn strategy was getting in his way.

The best course – and probably the most cowardly, which rankled him – was to snatch Rin and disappear before anyone noticed. It would be safest for her, it would insure that he didn't have to face Tomoji unprepared, and it would keep his adventure into enemy territory secret. That would be an advantage.

So the plan was to cross the clearing before him, snatch Rin away from the panther demon that was standing guard and then whisk her away with out getting spotted or having to fight. All of which was probably impossible.

He was just lucky Rin had been tossed back here, at the rear of the camp where there was next to no one lingering about. That might have had something to do with the very large quantity of deer meat that Sesshomaru could only just make out over the scent of lilies. If the gnawing and crunching he heard was any indication then almost everyone was occupied with dinner.

Maybe wasting all that time creeping around had been to his advantage after all.

The panther female, though, seemed uninterested in dinner and was quite occupied with pacing back and forth, her eyes rarely on anything other than her human captive. She seemed angry about something or other and Sesshomaru really couldn't be bothered about what it was…until the panther turned on Rin with a feral growl and aimed a kick at her head.

Sesshomaru was pulling his claws out of the panther's body before he even knew he was crossing the clearing.

"Hn." He flicked blood off his claws disdainfully as the she-panther crumpled at his feet. This new development was hardly following the plan but Sesshomaru didn't regret the kill, especially not when it meant he could destroy at least one of the demons who had tormented Rin.

"…said you were…coming…" the panther gasped out, trying to find her feet and ignore the acid bubbling in her wounds. "Said you – "

Sesshomaru removed her head from her shoulders with a flick of his wrist, silencing her before she thought to raise an alarm.

Aside from the thump of her body against the cold ground, though, the clearing was quiet. No one had noticed yet that he was here.

The plan was back on track.

"Rin." She was curled into a tight ball, the thin material of her blue yukata apparently doing little to warm her. Her hands were fisted close to her body and her feet were bare – had they ever been otherwise? – but more worrying was the fact that her lips very nearly matched her yukata.

Sesshomaru flicked the last of the blood from his claws and touched her arm carefully. Her skin was pale and cool to the touch but her breathing was steady and her heartbeat was strong. He gathered her into his arms carefully, managing to get her nestled in his left arm with her cool forehead pressed against his neck.

There was no doubt in his mind that it was an uncomfortable position, especially with his arms half covered in metal and spikes, but Rin didn't wake or even really uncurl. Sesshomaru suspected that was not a typical human response to being picked up, but he had no knowledge of human health and no time to attempt to assess her injuries.

That didn't mean he hadn't noticed her bruised and bloody hands or the fact that one of her ankles was considerably swollen.

A quick glance around confirmed that there was no one to observe their escape and Sesshomaru carefully tucked the trailing end of his pelt around the blue girl before disappearing into the deepening shadows.

The blurry haze of the barrier was just in sight and Rin's fingers had just curled a little into his fur when Sesshomaru heard the first cries of battle ringing through the trees.

His generals were attacking the enemy.

* * *

A/N: Another update! Again, sorry about the delay and that it's not beta'd. Unfortunately that can't be helped. Thank you guys so much for not abandoning this fic even though it looked like I had!


	9. Impending Disgrace

West of the Moon

Chapter Eight

"Attack!" Kiyoshi bellowed, flinging himself forward into the chaos with abandon. Close on his heels were a selected group of youkai – all of them strong enough to pass through the barrier and clever enough to face superior enemy numbers without panic.

Further away Jiroemon led a similar group in attacking the other large encampment that had sprung up on the edge of the barrier.

It was an incredibly stupid move to make, going into battle without Sesshomaru's permission and in the dark, but with the possibility that Lord Sesshomaru was being held prisoner the two had seen no other choice.

Or, rather, Kiyoshi was not willing to wait for morning to confirm that Sesshomaru had been stupid enough to loose his empire for a human girl. It was better to take out his frustration on the enemy and it would, in the long run, spare the clan a lot of humiliation if it never became common knowledge that the Lord of the Western lands shared the same weakness as his father.

Besides which, putting up a barrier was like inviting a surprise attack. Hadn't Tomoji learned that it was a bad plan to taunt a group of ill tempered dogs? Kiyoshi grunted and ran another boar through with his bloody sword.

They had deliberately chosen to attack far from the place where Sesshomaru had entered the barrier in hopes of drawing any threat away from him. And on the off chance Sesshomaru hadn't been captured – a chance only Jiroemon and maybe Jaken believed in – this attack would act as a diversion and cover for his actions.

Kiyoshi slashed his way through another few demons and growled low in his throat, more than pissed off at Sesshomaru. What kind of idiot built and army and then just wandered off into enemy territory to get himself killed?

And…why the hell was Jiroemon calling a full retreat? What the hell?

"Attack!" he bellowed again, lunging forward to claw out bear guts. The repetition of Jiroemon's command rang out again and Kiyoshi caught sight of his own warriors hesitating, torn between retreat and advance. "Move, damnit!"

"Retreat."

A shiver raced down Kiyoshi's back and he chanced a glance over his shoulder, only just catching sight of Sesshomaru's gleaming hair and pelt through the thickening darkness. Already the demons in his command were flitting away, back towards camp.

Kiyoshi dispatched his nearest opponent – they were fleeing as well now – and turned to look at Sesshomaru. "I – "

A sudden spark of green light shot by his ear with a snap and he flinched in expectation of a pain which never came.

"Now." Sesshomaru disappeared just as suddenly as he had appeared and Kiyoshi started after him, shocked. It was only then that he heard the thump of the falling body of the fox that had been about to backstab him.

* * *

By the time Kiyoshi got back to camp it was obvious he had made an enormous mistake…perhaps his last mistake. His lust for battle had forced an ill planed, unapproved attack on an unprepared enemy. Highly disgraceful. And rather cowardly.

He was definitely in trouble now.

And now Tomoji would have lost the sense of security that the barrier gave him, meaning that they could expect an attack from him at any time. It was no longer in Tomoji's favor to plot behind his walls and lure an unsuspecting Sesshomaru to destroy most of his army with purification.

If Lord Sesshomaru didn't kill Kiyoshi for this he would be surprised.

He had feared Sesshomaru would destroy all chances for empire, but in trying to prevent the loss Kiyoshi had achieved the opposite. The only honorable thing to do now would be to offer his life to Sesshomaru without complaint and beg him not to punish Jiroemon for Kiyoshi's mistakes.

But he couldn't find Sesshomaru. They had been forced to withdraw further to camp, ensuring a sort of no-man's-land between the two armies, but it seemed that Sesshomaru wasn't with them. Had he abandoned them again?

Kiyoshi groaned and tried to look unobtrusive as he wandered his way through the outskirts of the army but he could feel their eyes watching him through the dark, following his every move. He tried his best to look proud and unconcerned about what had happened but he knew it wasn't convincing.

Especially when he flinched as Jiroemon appeared at his side.

"Sesshomaru wants you," he told him quietly. "He's at the palace."

Kiyoshi nodded, trying to glean any extra information out of Jiroemon's familiar face, but he wasn't giving anything away. And then Jiroemon put his hand on Kiyoshi's shoulder and gave it a sort of apologetic, commiserating squeeze. "Now."

Kiyoshi swallowed and nodded, darting off wordlessly when Jiroemon dropped his hand. They probably wouldn't see each other again but there was no reason to say it out loud.

* * *

The palace was just far enough from Tomoji's armies as to be safe, but near enough that Sesshomaru had thought delivering Rin there would be a relatively quick outing. It wasn't.

She was still curled in his arms, just as she had been since he'd first found her. He hadn't even set her down when he'd charged into battle, afraid somehow that putting her down would mean losing her all over again.

He wasn't going to lose her again, though. The last time she had left – ignoring the fact that he had forced her to go – it had resulted badly for them both. She had been unhappy, and he had been…not himself.

The only problem with his vow not to lose her, though, was the fact that Rin was ill or injured or both. She was too cold, he knew, but surly held against his chest with his fur to warm her she should have recovered at least a little. Her fists were bloodied and there were a few shallow cuts along her arms and face, but they were all minor so he saw no danger in them. Nothing that would leave her so pale and still. There were some terrible looking bruises, her swollen ankle and a fair sized lump on her skull but none of those seemed serious either.

So, then, why was she not awake?

Sesshomaru didn't know much about human healing but he was pretty sure he had to have missed some dire wound, which meant the best thing for her would be to take her to his palace and hope that his mother and the other female demons could identify the problem for him.

Her warm breath whispered over his neck and her fingers caught at his fur again, but he'd already established that the action was unconscious. Rin was asleep and, he decided as he flew through the night, the palace was too far away.

* * *

There were scattered images in her mind and she groaned a little, trying to sort them out through her pounding headache. There was fire…she only half remembered it but she knew that it scarred her. And then there was ice and someone with sharp teeth speaking too loudly and too close to her face. And then…Sesshomaru. Sesshomaru, with his beautiful hair pulled back high on his head, his familiar face looking not older but somehow harder. There was warm skin beneath her face and cold wind in her hair, but she had felt so safe and so disconnected all at once…

And then there was more heat – fire? – and pain and she wasn't with Sesshomaru anymore…

She groaned again as the memory of pain brought real pain, but someone was stroking her hair comfortingly and she knew it was probably Niwa. Rin had probably gotten sick…she couldn't remember how, but her head felt cottony and her eyes were heavy, so she guessed there was fever. Niwa was probably taking care of her.

She tried to speak, but it came out as a sort of gravelly gasping that had her comforter touching her cheek gently. "Ni…wa…" she tried again, but it must not have come out right because the hand was very suddenly removed from her face.

She fought with her heavy eyes, trying to force them open, but saw only a sweep of white silk before exhaustion swamped her again. "…Sama," she tried hopefully, but she was asleep again before any answer could have been made.

* * *

Kiyoshi paced Sesshomaru's private gardens with mounting agitation. He had arrived close to an hour ago and the Lady of the house, Sesshomaru's mother, the beautiful Tane, had ushered him out here and disappeared without a word, apparently worried about something. Kiyoshi had seen no one else here at all.

At first, he had worried that Sesshomaru would fall upon him without warning and without allowing him the chance to explain but as time had passed he had begun to worry that Sesshomaru would not see him at all.

He made another restless tour of the half-dead plants, chucked a rock into the near by pond and had all but convinced himself to search out his lord himself when he heard the swoosh of a door being slid open and closed again.

Kiyoshi turned at the sound, expecting to find him self nose to nose with an angry Sesshomaru but suddenly found himself taking an unsteady step back.

Sesshomaru _was _angry – Kiyoshi could smell it – but what surprised him was the scent of human and of illness that clung to his lord. It clung very strongly, as though he had only just left the girl, but Kiyoshi knew that he had just emerged from his own private rooms…

Lord Sesshomaru was allowing the human to sleep in his rooms? But…his wife had not been given that honor…

Worse, Kiyoshi decided, was the fact that Sesshomaru had apparently bathed and changed – he was once again wearing his more traditional white and his less bulky armor – _before _he had gone to visit the girl. That he had kept his general waiting while he bathed was one thing but that he had kept his general waiting while he tended to a sick human was insulting.

Sesshomaru looked at him carefully, frown only just visible on his face as the fingers of his right hand smoothed idly over his pelt. It was once again looped over his shoulder in a way that was impossible to achieve in his more battle worthy armor. "Kiyoshi," he greeted at last.

It sounded more like a death sentence.

"My Lord, forgive me, I –"

"Silence," Sesshomaru purred, "I have no need for excuses."

Kiyoshi only nodded, eyes lowered. Honestly, this was going better than he had feared. Sesshomaru's hand moved from his pelt and Kiyoshi flinched, waiting for death, but Sesshomaru merely pushed back a strand of his now lose hair.

"I am not going to kill you." Sesshomaru could not have missed the flinch and Kiyoshi cursed himself…he more than deserved death and he had shown fear, but Sesshomaru was not going to kill him. He was going to strip him of his title and leave him to wallow in his shame.

But then…Then Sesshomaru turned and left him without speaking a word about dishonor or demotion. In fact, he had slipped back into his room before Kiyoshi could even begin to comprehend that their meeting was over.

Apparently, though, this new development was no shock to Sesshomaru's mother and Kiyoshi wondered if she had asked Sesshomaru to spare him. He hoped not…that would be more than disgraceful. She appeared moments after her son's departure to lead Kiyoshi out. He expected to be seen to the gates and told never to return – Oh, the shame of being banished by Tane! – but she only led him to a finely appointed sleeping chamber and drifted away silently, not looking at him.

Kiyoshi stared after her and then stared at the room she had given him. He was staying the night? He wasn't dead, wasn't dishonored, and wasn't demoted?

He slid the door closed and removed his armor carefully, dreading the coming morning. Sesshomaru was frightening when he acted on the spur of the moment, but he was unbelievably cruel when he took the time to plan. Kiyoshi knew punishment worse than he could imagine would await him in the morning.

* * *

A/N: So, what do we think? I'd love to hear from you all!


	10. Pull

West of the Moon

Chapter Nine

Sesshomaru wasn't sure what annoyed him more: the fact that Rin wasn't well, the fact that Rin was injured or the fact that the first person she had asked for wasn't him.

True, she had recognized him in the end, but it was a blow to his pride.

An annoying blow.

And then, of course, there was the entire issue of Kiyoshi and his quickly fading plans of empire.

What Sesshomaru really wanted to do was find something very strong – maybe Tomoji if he would stop hiding behind his army – and rip it to shreds. Little shreds.

What he did was settle back onto the mound of furs that made up his bed and watch over Rin as she fretted her way through her sleep.

She was supposed to have been better by now. His mother's women had cleaned her and dressed her and bound the wounds they could and she was supposed to have been better. Oh, Sesshomaru knew it would take time for the bruises to fade and her twisted ankle to support her, but she should at least have been awake.

It seemed, though, that exposure to the cold had brought about illness. Although Sesshomaru knew Rin was in no danger from this fever he had insisted that she be put in his room for the duration of her recovery. He wasn't sure why, not when he knew she would only be sleeping and suffering, but it comforted him to know that she was somewhere safe and close.

She had been out of his sight for nearly eight years but he had discovered when she had been whisked away from him by his mother's women that he was uncomfortable when he could not see her.

Strangely enough, his mother had made no comment about the fact that there was now a human woman sharing his quarters. In fact, his mother had been unusually quite about the entire ordeal.

She knew, of course, what had happened…she had her own set of informants that kept her up to date on the progress of her son's fighting, but she had not mentioned it. And she had been more than happy to escort the disgraced general around when he had arrived instead of sending a servant. Sesshomaru didn't know what she was playing at and had no desire to find out…especially since it was more than likely to become another annoyance.

Rin, though, was his primary annoyance and, at the moment, his primary concern. She had settled a little since he had last seen her, falling asleep rather than continuing her half awake mutterings. He ran his claws through her hair again thoughtfully, watching the silken stands slip back through his fingers to brush against her flushed face.

Rin had grown beautiful in a very human way…she was very much as she had been but there was something different about her as well. Obviously she had grown up, but it felt strange to see familiar features, like her childlike eyes, in an adult face. Demons aged so much more slowly as to make the changes seem non-existent, but humans…Rin was very different. But her face was still recognizably hers. Even if scent had not told him this was Rin, Sesshomaru would have been unable to deny the fact that this was Rin's face.

How very strange. She was different and not changed at all. But she was beautiful where before she had been a child.

Humans were an enigma Sesshomaru would never be able to work out.

* * *

The next time Rin opened her eyes she new she wasn't at home. She wasn't scared, not at first, but she knew that she had never seen this room before.

And then she remembered that she had run away and hardly made it a day's flight from home before she and Ahun had been captured while she had been fishing in the stream. The ogre, the panther, the snake…they certainly weren't here but the aches in her body told her that they hadn't been imagined either.

Oh, that's right…Ahun had tried to save her after she'd loosened one of their muzzles. She hopped the dragon was alright, because she certainly hadn't seen him since she found herself in the middle of an unnatural winter.

But where was she now? There were a few strange images in her mind, things that didn't make sense and were probably the result of fever, but she was undeniably in a large room nestled in mound of furs.

There was no frost, no snow, no strange demons…how had she ended up here?

She shifted a little, trying to push herself up but gave up when it was made immediately clear that her bruised ribs allowed her little to no movement at all and her hands were clumsy with bandages. She turned her head, pressing her eyes closed against the spasm of pain that rippled through her torso, and when she opened them again –

Rin blinked, clearing the flush of tears from her eyes, but still found herself undeniably looking into a familiar pair of golden eyes.

Sesshomaru was just a few feet away, gracefully reclined on his own mass of pelts, watching her unblinkingly.

"Sesshomaru-Sama," she croaked, testing her voice. He didn't react but she wasn't exactly sure what she had expected of him. "Sesshomaru-Sama, you came."

And then she burst into tears.

* * *

When it had become apparent that Rin was waking, Sesshomaru had decided it would be prudent to move away from her. Not far away, but just far enough to be proper.

At least as proper as one could manage when they were both in his bed.

He had opted for a sort of nonchalant lounging position just to her left, but he felt himself tense when she had gasped, tears coming to her eyes. It was worse when she turned to him and met his gaze.

"Sesshomaru-Sama. Sesshomaru-Sama, you came." Her voice was still Rin, her eyes, her mouth…and he had been irrationally pleased when she had recognized him.

And then irrationally startled when her eyes had begun to overflow with tears and her breath hitched itself into sobs.

He didn't know what to do.

As a child Rin had never been particularly prone to tears but on the rare occasion that she had cried Sesshomaru had learned there was nearly nothing that was more unpleasant. The smell of tears had burned in his nose and made him desperate to stop her.

This was three times worse.

Rin had been away so long that her scent alone was like drowning, and now coupled with the bitter fragility of illness and the sharp saltiness of tears it awakened a whole new kind of frustration in Sesshomaru…Not at the girl, but rather at what ever or whoever had produced this scent in her.

Not that he had any idea what that was.

At any rate, he very much needed her to stop crying _instantly _or he was libel to loose his mind. The scent was overpowering.

Besides, hadn't she flinched just trying to move? How could she stand to sob like that without hurting herself?

No. Further damage to Rin was unacceptable, and he would stop it immediately, even if it meant he had to…hold her or hug her.

Not that he wanted to. It certainly hadn't been his first instinct when he had smelled her tears.

"Rin." His hand found its way tentatively to her head, flattening over her ear gently. "Stop."

"…so scarred," she gasped out, making efforts to both calm her breathing and explain herself all at once. "…Thought I'd never see you again…Sesshomaru-Sama…"

Was that what this was all about? The fact that he was here? Such a trivial thing to be crying over.

"Stop," he said again, a little more forcefully. She held in the next sob but the tears didn't stop. "You will hurt yourself."

The air left her in a rush and her next few breaths hitched but less violently than before. Her eyes were still over bright and new tears spilled out every time she blinked – which she was doing a lot of – but she was trying to stop them. Sesshomaru was confident that in a moment they would be nothing more than a memory.

In fact it was only after her breath had evened out fully that he was aware of the fact that he was still touching her and he pulled back as though he had been burned.

"Don't leave," Rin pleaded, sounding very young. But she didn't try to follow him and he made no move to get further away than taking his hand back.

"Hn." Sesshomaru considered saying more, maybe reassuring her that he had no intentions of going anywhere, but he didn't know why. It certainly didn't matter to him if she thought he was leaving…as long as she didn't cry again.

Rin swallowed carefully and her eyes left him for a moment to scan the room. From what she could see there was only this large, almost bowl like indentation in the wood floor that had been lined with furs and an assortment of painted screens around them. "Sesshomaru-Sama, where are we?"

"This Sesshomaru's palace."

She nodded, her large eyes sweeping back over the furs around her. "Sesshomaru-Sama," she swallowed again, "What happened?"

"You left your brother's protection," he reminded her. He would deal with that mess later. "You were captured by my enemies."

She blinked, her head tilted a little to the side and Sesshomaru recognized easily enough that she was about to ask another question. Perhaps Rin had not changed at all…she obeyed his commands and asked far too many questions.

"Enough, Rin. You will rest."

She nodded and swallowed tightly and it occurred to him that she was probably thirsty. And probably hungry.

He should have thought of that earlier.

He stood swiftly, her dark eyes following him intently as he crossed the room. She made a strange noise in the back of her throat, something that was probably supposed to have been a negation, and he stopped, looking back at her. She looked very small in his very large bed, and he could smell the fear on her. She did not want to be left alone.

"Rest," he told her again.

"Sesshomaru-Sama?" she whispered quietly. He waited for her to continue patiently. "Ahun?"

"Ahun is with Jaken. Rest Rin, I will return."

Rin nodded again and he swept from the room.

This was fast becoming ridiculous…Rin was hardly out of his sight and he was worrying over her. It wasn't even as though he didn't know where she was. He could still _smell _her! He _knew_ she was safe.

He hoped this need to be by her side was a temporary development brought about by the fact that she had only recently been returned to his care and she was injured. Surely, when she was healed, there would be no further need for Sesshomaru's constant supervision.

In fact, just to prove that her pull over him was nothing more than a passing fancy, Sesshomaru decided he would leave the palace for an hour or two to speak more fully with Jiroemon.

After, of course, he sent someone to look after Rin and see to her needs.

* * *

A/N: Someone asked me how many chapters there would be. I don't really know. I'm working on chapter 18, though, if that gives you any indication. If you asked because you think my chapters are too short (a very valid complaint) I'm afraid there's not much I can do about it. Three pages is about my limit before I just have to start a new one.

Again, no beta. (I sorta overloaded her and then just couldn't add another thing to the pile.) Sorry about any of the stupid mistakes you find!


	11. A Beginning

West of the Moon

Chapter Ten

Sesshomaru made it back to the front lines sooner than he expected.

His troops had been forced to withdraw a little and the loss aggravated him but it was not a significant amount of land. This could be fixed.

After all, he still intended to win this battle and not only take back his own land but capture Tomoji's as well.

Unfortunately, there remained the question of what to do with Kiyoshi. Jiroemon was a brilliant tactician and a fearless leader in battle, but he didn't have the initiative of his cousin.

Most of the time, Sesshomaru didn't mind that. Jiroemon was never going to make the same costly mistake Kiyoshi had, but it was trying to have to give orders and supervise everything.

Not that he wouldn't do that anyway.

At any rate, he knew he could trust Jiroemon to think before he acted but he wasn't sure he could trust Jiroemon to win this war on his own. Jiroemon and Kiyoshi worked best together and that's all there was to it.

He found Jiroemon seated at the edge of the encampment, just under the shadow of the trees. "Sesshomaru," he greeted, muddy gold eyes flicking to his lord and then back to the moon gilded grass.

Sesshomaru nodded, gazing out at the view himself. The grass was long here, swaying in the breeze and looking silvery blue in the moonlight.

"Kiyoshi?"

"Hn," Sesshomaru said, running his fingers over his pelt. The breeze stirring the grass rippled over the fur and he could smell Rin's scent still clinging to him. Even though she was ill, the smell was intoxicating. "Kiyoshi is impulsive."

"Is?" Jiroemon asked, half turning to face him. His features were in shadow and Sesshomaru wasn't looking at him directly, but he knew his general was studying him intently.

"He has much to learn," Sesshomaru mused.

Jiroemon studied him a moment longer. "Will he be coming back?"

He would be, Sesshomaru knew that. But when, and in what condition, were less clear to him. He needed to win this war and he wanted to do it without dragging the combat out longer than necessary, but he knew that Tomoji would try and drag it out. After all, it was Sesshomaru's lands that would bear the brunt of the destruction and Tomoji had always preferred sneak attacks and covert plots to open battle.

Sesshomaru preferred the instant gratification of bloodshed and no-holds barred attacks. Unfortunately, that also meant he preferred to dole out punishments immediately and without thought to the consequences.

If he hadn't had Rin to protect, he would have killed Kiyoshi on the battle field. If he hadn't been worried over her safety, he would have killed Kiyoshi in the gardens. If he hadn't been distracted, he wouldn't have thought about the fact that he needed Kiyoshi alive if he wanted to be victorious.

But Kiyoshi deserved punishment.

The breeze tugged at his hair gently but Sesshomaru made no move to tuck it back behind his ear.

Jiroemon was still waiting for an answer to his question. Was Kiyoshi coming back? What was Sesshomaru going to do with him?

"He is no longer my general," Sesshomaru decided. "But you may see him again."

Jiroemon frowned, opened his mouth to question him, but Sesshomaru ignored him and faded back into the darkness.

* * *

"My Lady." Rin's heavy eyes blinked open again. The voice was unfamiliar but very soft. Comforting. That didn't stop her from looking for Sesshomaru though. "How are you feeling, my Lady?"

Sesshomaru was no where to be seen but a young woman knelt by Rin's head, eyes lowered.

Surly this woman wasn't addressing her, right? And…were those ears?

That's exactly what they were, Rin decided. The woman – demon – had shining black hair that was held back by two long, grey ears. Rabbit ears.

Huh. A rabbit demon living among dog demons. That seemed…dangerous.

"My Lady?" the woman prodded again, eyes flicking to Rin's face and away again. She seemed nervous and Rin wondered where Sesshomaru had gone. "Are you well?"

Rin opened her mouth to answer but all that came out was a sort of horse squawk that was reminiscent of Jaken after he'd been stepped on. She tried, ineffectually, to swallow moisture back into her throat.

"My Lord sent me to see to your needs," the rabbit murmured, deftly repositioning Rin so that she was more seated than reclined in the strange bowl-like depression. She held a cup of cool water to her lips and helped her to drink.

Rin wished she could have done that herself, but her body ached and her head swam and she doubted she would have been able to move, much less drink without soaking herself. The pounding in her head was reduced minimally by the water and even more so by closing her eyes.

"Thank you," she croaked. "What is your name?"

"Fuu, My Lady."

"Rin," she corrected.

There was half a second of silence, then: "Lady Rin."

"No." Rin swallowed again because her voice sounded unfamiliar to her own ears. "Just Rin."

She cracked her eyes open enough to see Fuu looking very confused and shoot her another worried glance. Fuu was careful to keep her head lowered, but Rin thought she might have caught a glimpse of green eyes in her pale face.

"Where am I?" She gazed around the room, taking in again the enormous pelt lined depression and the intricately painted screens arranged around it. She caught sight of a few door panels, some lit by moonlight and others by lamplight, but that didn't tell her much about her whereabouts.

Fuu fidgeted a little in what Rin recognized as nerves. "These are My Lord's chambers."

Rin jumped a little and pain spiked though her but she ignored it. "Sesshomaru-Sama?" she questioned. "Sesshomaru-Sama's chambers?"

Fuu nodded and Rin collapsed back, shocked and exhausted. "Why?"

Fuu didn't answer beyond smoothing a few strands of sweaty hair off Rin's damp forehead carefully and readjusting one of the pelts around her.

"Where is Sesshomaru?" she asked dazed.

Fuu's eyes shot up again and then dropped instantly. It was enough that Rin could see her eyes really were green. "He will return, Lady Rin." But then she was offering a spoonful of thin broth to Rin's lips, effectively cutting off further conversation.

* * *

By the time Sesshomaru got back to the palace he wanted nothing more than to lay amongst his pelts and watch Rin breath. Actually, he wanted to see her awake and hear her ask questions, tell her about what he had done without her, hear about her life, make her understand that he hadn't meant for her to be unhappy…But he would be content with watching her sleep.

What he got was his mother waiting for him on the front steps, just where she had been waiting when she had sent Rin into hell.

"What will you do with Kiyoshi?" she asked, doing away with greetings all together.

Sesshomaru tried to ignore her.

"If you were going to kill him, you would have done it by now." Her mouth twisted in a strange sort of smile. "If you were going to demote him, you wouldn't have given him a room. You don't know what you are going to do with him, do you?"

Sesshomaru didn't answer but his mother laughed anyway. "My son, the mighty Sesshomaru, doesn't know what to do. Your father was not so indecisive."

Sesshomaru knew that was true. But he also knew his father had made many decisions in the blink of an eye that had led to more trouble than they were worth. One of which had been abandoning his wife in favor of a human woman.

"He is no longer my general," Sesshomaru answered at last, not turning to face his mother but his fingers tightened in the white fur over his shoulder. "I have given him to Rin."

His mother made a sort of sputtering noise that was anything but dignified and he ignored it, choosing instead to sweep by her and towards his chambers. He knew she was angry and that she would inevitably try to change his mind in the morning, but she wasn't going to follow him tonight.

Kiyoshi's punishment seemed fitting. It had occurred to him while speaking to Jiroemon that Kiyoshi valued his honor over his life and that he could not really demote the man when he was a necessary tool in his victory.

But he could let Kiyoshi keep his title while forcing him to follow Rin's orders. Rin, at least the Rin he remembered, was fair and intelligent enough to know that Kiyoshi would have to fight, but she was undeniably human. A human acting as a demon's superior was most definitely a blow to one's pride, but Kiyoshi would still be allowed the glory of battle.

And if Rin had her own general to protect her, Sesshomaru would be free to fight for himself without the constant worry over her safety.

He slid open the door to his room silently. He could smell Rin and the lingering scent of a rabbit demon here, but more importantly he could hear Rin breathing soft and low. It was a rhythmic sound, like waves on the shore, but more peaceful.

He could tell she was asleep and that she wasn't in pain. He rounded one the various screens and caught sight of her curled around a pelt with her hair glimmering around her like silk.

She looked very small.

He knew she was full grown now, no longer a pup, but she looked tiny. It might have been the fact that she was dwarfed by his bed – it was designed to accommodate his true form after all – but he didn't think so. It was more that she looked fragile and breakable. He could kill her with one finger, without even having to resort to using his poison.

He could still smell the fever on her, he could see her skin gleaming with sweat, but her color was healthier. Even in the faint moonlight he could see that she looked less pale.

Before he had really thought about what he was doing he had settled himself on the furs beside her, studying her face again. It was like the time he had taken her back from Naraku, when she had slept curled against him. It was like the fist time Tenseiga spoke to him and she had smiled through her injuries. It was the beginning all over again.

Except this time he wasn't going to let her be taken and he wasn't going to send her away. If there was going to be another ending, it would be because Rin chose it.

"Sleep, Rin," he whispered. The trailing end of his pelt looped itself around her waist gently and he made no move to take it back, even when her fingers curled into the fur reflexively.

* * *

When she woke up again, there was sunlight filtering through the screens and Sesshomaru was close by her side, gazing at the far door without seeing it. It was a familiar expression than made Rin's heart clench painfully.

"Sesshomaru-Sama?" She asked, sitting up carefully. She was still sore, but she could manage. He didn't answer, but the soft ribbon of fur around her body tightened gently. She laid a stiff bandaged hand on it and felt the warmth of the fur. It was so familiar, but…she followed its path with her eyes until it looped over Sesshomaru's arm.

"Sesshomaru-Sama?" she asked again, fingers brushing over the fur wonderingly. A ripple went through the white fur that resulted in an almost invisible shiver through Sesshomaru's still body. His golden eyes turned to her locking on her face.

"Rin."

Her face lit with a smile brighter than he remembered ever seeing before.

* * *

A/N: You guys rock, even those of you who read and don't review. (I read a lot and don't do many reviews either... whoops!) You all made my day awesome. Thanks!


	12. Little Lies

West of the Moon

Chapter 11

Kiyoshi was led to the receiving room by Jaken.

He had spent the night pacing, wondering what Sesshomaru planned to do with him. When the sun rose, he wondered how long it would be until someone came to fetch him. When Jaken showed up, he wondered how long it would be until the little creature inadvertently told him everything.

But Jaken was distracted, muttering something about indecency and never knowing when to just shut up.

So Kiyoshi had no idea what to expect when he stepped into the room. There was an ornate looking throne in the center, but it was empty. Sesshomaru should have occupied that chair, but he was gazing out across the half dead gardens off to the left. His hand was on the hilt of his sword, but he didn't turn when the door slid open. To his right, Sesshomaru's mother was pacing. Her fists were clenched and there were splotches of color high on her cheeks.

That worried Kiyoshi more than he wanted to admit. She was icier than even Sesshomaru – when she heard about the death of her husband she didn't even bat an eye – but now she was visibly upset.

But the biggest shock was when Jaken scurried past his feet and made his way to a figure seated just to the left of the throne.

There, on a mountain of pillows, dressed like a princess, was a human woman. A human woman who laughed when Jaken tripped at her feet even though her face was a rainbow of bruises. The laughter ended in a wince and Kiyoshi assumed her ribs were bruised as well.

It was the gasp of her laughter cutting off that finally got Sesshomaru to turn away from the view. He fixed Kiyoshi with a withering stare, but he didn't miss the fact that Sesshomaru's eyes had flicked to the woman before resting on him.

Sesshomaru's mother didn't either, because she made a huffing sort of noise.

"Kiyoshi."

"Lord Sesshomaru," he greeted. He didn't mean to, but his own gaze shot to the human. She was looking serious now, watching the demons around her closely.

Sesshomaru tilted his head towards her minutely. "You will keep Rin safe and follow any order she gives you." Kiyoshi's mouth dropped and there was another huff of dissatisfaction from Tane.

"My Lord, Tomoji…and what about –" he cut him self off, knowing he was making a bigger mess for himself than he needed to. He swallowed. "Yes Lord Sesshomaru."

"Hn," he answered, "She may very well order you back to battle, General. Or maybe I'll see you out working in my gardens."

Kiyoshi swallowed again. It was all he could do to bring himself to nod.

* * *

Sesshomaru had expected his mother to be upset, but he hadn't expected her to bustle Fuu in to his room to care for Rin and then ambush him in the halls to try and change his mind. He hadn't expected her to make a scene in front of Kiyoshi. He certainly wasn't expecting her to continue to berate him about it now, when the order had already been given.

Kiyoshi had been dismissed and Rin had been taken back to her – his …their? – room. His mother had refused to leave. And now she was following him around, reminding him again what a disgrace it was to their entire species that Kiyoshi was now inferior to a human woman.

Sesshomaru was only half listening. He was still thinking about Rin. She had slept beneath his pelt. She had brushed her fingers over the fur. She had woken well and happy. She wasn't healthy really, she was still weak and hurting, but she wasn't sick either. She was getting better.

She had smiled at him.

"Its disgrace enough that your father died for a human and you let her child live. Now you will disgrace the rest of us?"

Sesshomaru may only have been half listening, but his mother certainly had his full attention now.

"It would have been a disgrace if I had killed him as a pup," Sesshomaru pointed out. His mother already knew it, of course, but it was worth pointing out again. "It would be further disgrace to kill him now that he has given up his heritage and pupped with the miko. It would be beneath me to kill him now." She huffed, because she knew it was true, and Sesshomaru turned to her, studying her intently. "You worry about your own dignity. You were usurped by a human woman and you worry now because your lover is subservient to another."

A flush rose in her cheeks but Sesshomaru pretended not to notice and turned back on his way out of the palace.

He had long suspected that his mother and Kiyoshi were involved with each other – there were rumors every where – but now she had confirmed them. It wasn't terribly surprising…since his father's death she had been through many suitors and even more lovers. But Kiyoshi was only a general, well below her current status, and he was even younger than Sesshomaru. Not a lot younger, but young enough that Sesshomaru could remember his birth.

And yet she was upset over his sudden disgrace.

Any other lover she would have let go at the first hint of dishonor.

Did that mean…Did that mean she might actually be attached to the general?

Damn. That was unfortunate. And disturbing. And now all he wanted to do was see Rin, listen to her speak, see her smile and forget all about this.

But she was with Kiyoshi.

Damn.

* * *

"General?" Rin fidgeted a little looking at him. He was younger looking than Sesshomaru, but probably only by a year or so. She wasn't quite sure what that equated to in a demon's lifespan. His hair was silvery-white, like Sesshomaru's, but it was pulled back in a low bunch at the base of his neck. His features were fine and fair, but his eyes were a startlingly dark blue that Rin found intimidating. "What happened to Sesshomaru-Sama?"

He wouldn't meet her eyes even though she was speaking to him. He also seemed to be trying to pretend Fuu hadn't snugly tucked her in to a few of Sesshomaru's pelts and situated her comfortably under a bare looking tree in his private gardens.

"I don't know what you mean." Rin noticed he avoided calling her "Lady". She didn't mind really, she would have told him to stop if he tried, but it worried her a little. She trusted Sesshomaru implicitly, but this dog demon was new to her and clearly didn't like her.

"Why is there a war?" she clarified. "Why would anyone want to fight Sesshomaru-Sama?"

He looked at her now, scanning her face. "You don't know."

"Know what?" His eyes were hard and she was sure that what ever he was about to tell her wasn't something she wanted to hear.

"It's the army from the north, under the control of the ice demon Tomoji. You've heard of him, right?" Rin shook her head, mute. Kiyoshi made a sort of huff of annoyance that reminded her of Sesshomaru's mother. "He's powerful. No match for us, of course, but powerful and dangerous. When Lord Sesshomaru married his daughter –"

"Sesshomaru got married?"

Kiyoshi looked surprised now and didn't seem to care anymore that she had interrupted him. "Of course Lord Sesshomaru married. How else is he to have heirs?"

"But…Sesshomaru-Sama is married." Rin tried very hard to reconcile solitary silent Sesshomaru with the laughter and love she had seen between Niwa and Yukichi. It didn't seem possible.

But he was different, too, she reminded herself. That morning was proof…

"Lord Sesshomaru _was _married," Kiyoshi corrected. "Lady Mitoyo died."

"Oh." Rin wasn't sure what to think of that. She wasn't relieved – although it was a good thing she wouldn't have to explain just what she was doing in Sesshomaru's room to his wife – but she wasn't upset either. Maybe if she had ever met the woman she would care more. And if Sesshomaru had cared for her than her death would be a tragedy.

What if he had loved her? Sesshomaru didn't seem like a man who had lost the woman he loved, but sometimes it was hard to tell what he was thinking. After so many years apart, there could be a lot of the subtleties she had learned as a child that she could no longer read in him.

"How sad for Sesshomaru-Sama," she added, realizing Kiyoshi was still watching her.

Kiyoshi caught himself before he told her it was more a blessing than a tragedy. No one had particularly liked Mitoyo and the marriage had been strictly political, but Rin didn't need to know that. She and Sesshomaru were already too close as far as Kiyoshi was concerned; surely distancing them a little would help everyone. "A tragedy," Kiyoshi said, attempting to sound sad. "She and My Lord were happy together." It was hard not to laugh when he said that. Sesshomaru happy? Impossible. "It's only worse that she died before their child could be born."

Mitoyo hadn't been pregnant, but the story sounded better that way. And the trace of doubt that had come across her face at the mention of Sesshomaru and happiness melted instantly. "Oh, Sesshomaru-Sama," she whispered. "Oh."

"I know," Kiyoshi commiserated, warming to this idea. If she thought he was mourning a lost love, surely this human woman would give up whatever designs she had on his cousin. "And now Tomoji is accusing Sesshomaru of killing his daughter –"

"He would never!"

"And he's trying not only to back out of the treaty they made during the marriage but take Sesshomaru's lands as well. Reparations for his daughter's life or something like that."

Rin was frowning now, looking upset and emotional.

Time to close the deal. Kiyoshi adopted what he hoped was a friendly sort of worry. "You won't tell Lord Sesshomaru I told you this, will you? He's very careful about his emotions and he wouldn't like me telling you all of this."

Rin nodded, looking understanding. "I won't, I…thank you general." Her eyes looked glassy and Kiyoshi was suddenly afraid he had taken his story too far. Sesshomaru was bound to kill him if he made the human cry. "Sesshomaru-Sama can be very private, but I won't tell anyone what I've heard from you. Thank you."

Kiyoshi couldn't resist a smile. "My pleasure My Lady."

When the afternoon meal was ready, Fuu came and fetched her from the gardens and helped her back into bed. She wanted to stay outside, especially now that Kiyoshi had proven to be such a good friend, but she was tired and sad. He had tried to cheer her up, pointing out a few of the flowers that were still blooming and telling her stories, but when she learned Mitoyo had killed the plants with her ice she wanted nothing more than to leave the garden and pretend not to have noticed how empty they were.

She was almost grateful to be inside again, but then she was tucked back into Sesshomaru's bed.

Probably the one he had shared with his poor dead wife.

She almost wanted to cry.

It was so like Sesshomaru to suffer in silence and pretend that he was unaffected by the world around him. But his wife's family was attacking him for her death, his palace still bore the signs of her presence, his bed was still her's… Sesshomaru was surrounded by his loss.

She wished she could talk to Fuu about it all, but Fuu was quiet and skittish and she would know that Kiyoshi had been the one to tell her everything. She wanted to talk to Sesshomaru about it, tell him how sorry she was even if he would ignore the sentiment…

The only one she could talk to was Kiyoshi. It was probably for the best that way…after all, he would know better than she did just what his roll would need to be to win this battle for Sesshomaru. Of course Sesshomaru himself would tell her just what Kiyoshi aught to do…but winning this war as quickly as possible was the best thing Rin could do for her lord.

If she helped him to win then maybe he would have a chance to be happy again and not mourn his dead family. Maybe he wouldn't have to be surrounded by loss anymore.

Maybe she could give him a new start the way he had given her one so many years ago after the wolves had attacked.

The first step, she decided as Fuu gathered up the empty soup bowl, was to get a room of her own. It was probably best if she didn't intrude where she wasn't needed.

"Fuu?"

"Hai?'

Rin swallowed nervously. "Do think I might be able to have my own room?"

"No."

It wasn't Fuu who answered, it was Sesshomaru. He had only just come through the door.

"I don't want to be a bother," Rin said sheepishly.

There was a beat of uncomfortable silence. "Are you uncomfortable here?"

Rin was so shocked at having Sesshomaru ask her a question instead of the other way around she couldn't think for a moment. If she could have, she would have tried to lie – even though Sesshomaru would have known it was a lie – but instead the truth came tumbling out of her mouth. "No. Not at all Sesshomaru-Sama."

"Hn," he said, as though that ended the discussion. And it did.

As Fuu bowed her way out of the room all Rin could think was that he must have loved Mitoyo more than she had imagined if he didn't want to be left alone with her memory.

* * *

Rin was trying to leave.

She might be asking only to move down the hall, but next it would be to move to another wing and then out of the palace and back to some human village where she could take up a human life.

All of which Sesshomaru told himself was her decision to make. But it wasn't going to happen when she was still weak and hurting. Until she was well – completely healed and capable of taking care of herself as well a human could – she was not leaving his rooms.

But she had asked to leave. Maybe she had been embarrassed by what had happened that morning.

Damn.

Well, in that case he would just be careful not to embarrass her again.

He wanted to speak to her now about the war he was embroiled in, warn her about Kiyoshi's impulsive nature and help her decide just what to do with him, but she looked flushed and upset.

Maybe he had hurt her by not giving her a room of her own. Maybe she had been out in the gardens too long. Maybe her fever was coming back.

Sesshomaru didn't know quite what he should do, but he did recognize the glassy sheen to her eyes and the way her eyes were drooping with exhaustion.

Once again his talk with her would have to be postponed.

He resigned himself to sitting on the wooden floor at the edge of the bed, just by her head, and placing a hand on her crown. He knew she would sleep, but he intended to be there when she woke again and they would talk. He probably should have gone back to the front, but it was quiet for now and if something were to happen he was close enough to be of use in battle. He could have roamed the grounds, but there was the possibility of running into his mother again, or Kiyoshi, and he had no desire to see them. It soothed him more to be in Rin's presence.

"Sleep," he told her. She nodded and blinked her too wet eyes. "Rin." She nodded again and closed them.

In a few minutes her breathing had slowed and she was all but asleep. He withdrew his hand from her hair gently, but she stirred a little. She looked at him through half lidded eyes and murmured, "I'm sorry about your wife," before she fell asleep for good.

"Hn."

* * *

A/N: Whoops! So, looks like Sesshomaru and Rin won't be realizing they love each other, leaping into each others arms, and riding off into the sun set...

To Darkhearted Angel: You're not supposed to like Sesshomaru leaving Rin with Kiyoshi, but he doesn't realize all those things you pointed out! It's ok, I'll fix it.


	13. Unexpected Visitors

A/N: Everything is now where is should be. If you missed Chapter 6 "Searching" (listed in the drop menu as "7. Searching") then I recommend you read it. If you don't remember a chapter that was Jaken-centric then you didn't read it. Some of you may have read this chapter, but it was removed as soon as I realized my huge mistake. Now, assuming I can continue to count there should be no further delays.

* * *

West of the Moon

Chapter 12

Rin knew she was dreaming when she saw Sesshomaru-Sama and a beautiful woman standing together on the hilltop. She knew it was a dream when the woman leaned against his shoulder and whispered in his ear. She knew it was a dream when Sesshomaru wrapped his arms around her and held her close.

It was a dream, she knew it was, but he looked happy even though his face never changed. It looked right.

It wasn't a dream when she woke up in the late afternoon, feeling weak and stupid and a little weepy, and saw Sesshomaru waiting for her.

For a second she whished he was anybody else – she felt so useless sleeping in his bed and being moved around from place to place like some object. She felt like a burden, and the last thing she ever wanted was for Sesshomaru to see her that way.

Wasn't that why he'd sent her away in the first place? Because human girls who needed saving were a burden?

But that reminded her of the endless years she had been without him, the loneliness that her family and friends couldn't cure, and she realized there was no one else she would rather see at that moment.

Sesshomaru was quiet for a moment, looking at her. "You are better now," he observed quietly.

She nodded, half because it was true – she felt quite a bit better – and half because that was his way of asking if she was well. "Much better," she agreed.

"How were you injured?" He sounded curious, which amused her, because his face didn't betray it. But that wasn't why the question surprised her.

It surprised her because it revealed to her just how little interaction the two of them had had since she had woken here in his bed.

She had slept here, she had spoken to Kiyoshi and Fuu and stood precariously while she was wrapped in one of Sesshomaru's mother's kimonos, she had touched his pelt and sat with him by his throne, she had spoken about him and dreamt of him, but she hadn't really talked to him yet.

"I was leaving my home," she admitted, "And I was taken by surprise. Ahun tried to help but they were too strong and then I was somewhere cold and Ahun couldn't follow."

"Why were you leaving?"

Rin thought for a moment, frowning. She couldn't lie to Sesshomaru and she didn't want too, but she couldn't really say what she wanted to without insulting Yukichi and all that he had to done for her. She settled for a half truth. "I was leaving because Shigechiyo wanted to marry me."

Sesshomaru was silent for a minute, processing the information. He had known that much, her sobbing human friend had told him that, but it didn't explain why she would leave. Unless, of course, she knew it would do her no good to refuse the offer. Unless she was afraid she would be forced to marry, afraid she was in danger. What if her brother beat her until she agreed? What if this Shigechiyo intended to make her his wife through any means possible? What if…

Sesshomaru clamped down on his building anger. "You did not wish to marry him."

"I don't want to marry anyone," she answered, "But especially not him."

Sesshomaru almost asked why, but Rin didn't need the prodding. "Shigechiyo is the headman's son." Sesshomaru was almost proud that the man with the highest status had been her suitor, but it also meant he could easily force people to do his bidding. It would have made refusing his suit harder. "He was Hisa's brother, too, and that might have helped – we would have been sisters – but Shigechiyo didn't love me. He didn't even like me. He was always telling people I was strange." Rin frowned. "He made it very hard for me to fit in with the others. He only wanted to marry me because I was different. How many other headmen can say they married a woman with a two headed dragon?"

Sesshomaru supposed he could understand the desire to stand out from the crowd but surely this human could have found a better way to do so than by using Rin.

"Were you happy there?"

This was the thing Rin was hopping not to have to talk about. She wasn't unhappy, but she wasn't happy. She wasn't sure if she could explain.

"No," she decided finally. "Not really." She chanced a glance at Sesshomaru but he seemed to be doing his best to remain impassive. "I love my brother and his wife and their children." She paused, looking down at her hands. "I miss them, and I miss Hisa, but if I had really been happy there I wouldn't have left. I would have found a way to stay."

Sesshomaru tried to sort it all out. She wasn't miserable there – that meant he hadn't failed her when he sent her away. She wasn't happy there – that meant he might have missed out on years of her life where she could have been with him. She loved and missed people – that was human, and normal he supposed. That's what he'd wanted for her. But she had left of her own volition…

This was the part that confused him. She missed them, which meant she wanted them in her life, but she had left them, meaning she didn't. She had said she couldn't have left if she had been happy…but now she wanted to leave him too…

Did that mean she was unhappy?

"But Sesshomaru-Sama, what about you? Kiyoshi told me there was a war."

War. Kiyoshi. Right.

"The ice demons do not whish to honor their contract," Sesshomaru dismissed. "And now they are attempting to invade."

Rin noticed he didn't mention his dead wife and wondered if he still missed her so much that he didn't want to mention her.

Sesshomaru had forgotten all about her.

"What can they achieve by invading Sesshomaru-Sama?"

His eyes glinted when he answered. "Death."

And then the world changed and cold descended.

* * *

Jiroemon had thought he could handle it when a fox demon had melted out of the setting sun, sword raised. He though he could handle it when a bear charged into camp from the other direction. He knew he couldn't handle it when hoards of demons of every shape and size descended upon them with a deafening cacophony, weapons glimmering bloody in the dying sun.

* * *

Kiyoshi ran a claw over the smooth curve of her cheek adoringly. "You amaze me," he murmured. His other hand drifted down to settle on her hip. "Everything about you is perfect."

She simpered a little, but didn't try to deny it.

"Tane…" Kiyoshi leaned in closer, pulling her in to his arms. She purred in pleasure, wrapping his arms around his neck. "Tell me again what you told her," she whispered. "Tell me she cried."

"I told her Sesshomaru loved Mitoyo. I told her he'd lost his family. I told her he didn't want her."

"Yes," Tane whispered, "Good."

"I told her she was nothing."

"Yes," Tane whispered again. "I always knew you had a head for tactics. I knew it."

"I told her she could trust me," Kiyoshi whispered in her ear. "I told her everything she wanted to hear."

"You're good at that."

He smiled, catching her earlobe between his fingers so that his breath only just brushed over her ear. "But I mean everything I tell you."

And then there was the stench of lilies and the crash of battle from across the courtyard. Tane and Kiyoshi were surrounded before they even had time to process that Sesshomaru had been attacked.

* * *

Rin had only had the chance to shiver with in an eerily familiar, and eerily sudden, chill before Sesshomaru's nose scrunched and his sword was singing through the air. There was blood splashed across her cheek and nose and a head in her lap before she'd even realized they weren't alone in the room.

She froze for half a second, looking at the head and seeing only Denzo's eyes looking up at her from the dirt.

When the far wall shuddered and gave in and Sesshomaru's form blurred ahead of her in a flash of white and glinting steel it finally occurred to her to move. She tried to leap up, flinging the head away from herself, but she had forgotten that her ankle had barely held while she was standing still with Fuu to lean on. She couldn't walk – she certainly couldn't run, which was what she tried to do – and even if she could there was no way she could out run a demon.

It shouldn't have surprised her when pain shot up her leg and a sharp clawed hand snatched at her arm but it did and she screamed. She screamed again when Sesshomaru sliced through the arm and she crashed into the floor, only just catching herself. There was the familiar swish and squelch of sword meeting flesh behind her and the strange thunk of bodies on a wooden floor, but she tried to ignore it. She wished she could crawl away but her limbs were frozen.

And then it was silent.

She was shaking and her breath was hitching. Her ankle throbbed and her ribs ached but all she could understand was the silence.

And his voice. "Rin."

"H-h-hai," she choked out. Her voice was trembling but she didn't know why.

"Stay here." He was gone before she could process that he was leaving her alone.


	14. Blood

West of the Moon

Chapter 13

It wasn't until Sesshomaru got to the receiving room - fought his way back to his own throne, damn it – that he came face to face with Tomoji. Or rather, sword to sword.

Tomoji might prefer to sneak around and make covert attacks, but he was a fierce opponent if you ever managed to cross blades with him. Sesshomaru was better, though, and they both knew it.

That probably explained why Tomoji pulled one last punch and stepped back at the last second, pushing Tane in front of himself.

Her hair was tangled and there were splashes of blood across her face and hands. None of it was her own. Her features were already lengthened and pointed, halfway between canine and human. She was snapping at her captors, claws flying, but Tomoji's sudden move sent her tumbling into her son and they were both thrown off balance.

They were both quick to recover, Sesshomaru with his sword at the ready and Tane – transformation under control once more – with her claws green with energy but the momentary distraction was all Tomoji had needed to surround himself with armed guards. Sesshomaru lunged forward, slicing through demons with sword and poison to reach his adversary while Tane spun back, decimating the enemy soldiers that had tried to fill in behind them and trap them.

There was a sudden roar that came from neither Sesshomaru nor his mother and the furthest wall of the throne room exploded inward. Kiyoshi – fully transformed into a large, short eared white dog – crashed through the room with what Sesshomaru recognized as two of his former sister-in-laws. One, an enormous ice creature with razor sharp fingers, was caught in Kiyoshi's jaws and the other seemed to have tackled him, sending him rolling into the room.

It probably hadn't been too hard to send him tumbling, though, if the flowing blood and strange angle of one of his back legs was any indication. Tane was swirling and slicing her way to his aid, nearly dancing through the carnage, when there was an answering yelp of canine pain from the far side of the castle.

The sound, and perhaps the fact that Sesshomaru was all but on top of him, sent Tomoji fleeing. His daughters and fighters, the small portion left alive, detangled themselves from combat and fled at his heels just as Jiroemon, fur stained more red than white, half limped and half bounded on to the scene.

Sesshomaru leapt forward, intending to hunt his fleeing enemy down and destroy him, but his mother held him back with a bloodied hand and a shake of her head.

Sesshomaru knew she was right, there was no way he could take on Tomoji and his army alone and neither of his generals, not even Tane herself, were in any shape to help him. They also knew where Tomoji would retreat too, so there was no need to track him. None of that changed the fact that Sesshomaru had the strong desire to rip his enemy to shreds.

Jiroemon, by far the bloodiest of them all, dwindled back into his humanoid form with all the grace of an old woman tumbling down stairs. He was bleeding heavily and his breath was coming in paints but he tried very hard to make some sort of report.

"Attacked us at sun down," he gasped. "All sides. Decimated."

Kiyoshi growled low in the back of his throat and Sesshomaru wanted to as well. Tane's fists were opening and closing reflexively, her long claws shining an unearthly green.

"Tried to fight. Sent messengers here."

Kiyoshi growled again, more loudly. While he couldn't speak as a dog, and Sesshomaru suspected he couldn't stand as a man, their native language of barks and growls was sufficient enough to express his rage and frustration.

"He probably had all the messengers killed on the way," Tane hissed. "He had this planned perfectly." She unclenched her hands with a conscious effort and smoothed her wild hair back in an attempt at civilization. "How much of our armies survived?"

Sesshomaru recognized that these were the questions he needed to be asking and that he needed to be planning his counter attack, but details and strategy were swept away by rage. Tomoji had attacked him, Sesshomaru, at home. He had destroyed the palace of his father and his ancestors.

Tomoji had had the unmitigated gall to launch an attack on the very heart of the western lands.

And he'd been irritatingly successful.

"Enough." The broken bits of sentences and half heard growls swirling around him stopped instantly with his almost whispered word. Even the swirling dust of destruction seemed to freeze in the air.

"Clean up." The three other dogs were watching him intently, waiting for something. "When I return, we will crush Tomoji."

Sesshomaru disappeared in a streak of white into the darkness.

* * *

He didn't know how long he ran or even when he had stopped moving as a man and flew over the ground in his true form. He made the conscious decision to head away from Tomoji and the battle – there was nothing to be gained by attacking him alone – and found himself heading south. He wished there were something worth fighting, something to challenge himself against, but there was no one worth the effort.

There was only himself, the moon, and, at last, the ocean. For a moment he felt the urge to howl, but even at this distance his mother and the others were likely to hear him and Sesshomaru would not admit to loosing his composure.

He knew he should return to his ruined palace now, go back to his generals, rally the remains of his army and attack, but he had no desire too.

It wasn't that he didn't want to attack Tomoji, because he did. He wanted to find out for himself if an ice demon was frosty all the way through or if maybe the intestines were warm. The problem was, he wanted to do it without politics and armies.

He wanted to hunt Tomoji across the land, track him, corner him and fight him one on one. He would settle for Tomoji and himself meeting on the field of battle, armies at their backs, and fighting that way. Sesshomaru wouldn't be content with a war made up of sneak attacks and trickery. He had lost patience with that sort of fighting when he was still a pup.

He stood on the sand a while longer, watching the tide rise and the moon shine on the wave crests. When the water was at its highest, almost touching his paws, he lept into the water as though he were going for the kill and ran home with his fur still dripping.

* * *

When he returned to his palace late that night he had no intentions of sleeping, but he had even less intentions of seeing his mother or his generals. Still in his true form, then, he jumped the wall of his own private gardens and went into his rooms through the large hole in the side of the building. There were a few scattered bodies, and a few more scattered limbs, but he swept them together with a paw and flung them out into the night. It surprised him a little that no one had cleared the dead away yet, especially when Rin had been staying in this room, but, then again, Rin was even now probably tucked away in a room were there had been no bloodshed and all four walls were intact.

But it was never wise to make any assumptions where Rin was concerned. Before Sesshomaru had really quite decided what he was going to do he had shrunk back into his human form and was striding out into the hall in which he had left the girl.

She was still there. Rin had fallen asleep with her head in Fuu's lap and the rabbit had placed a blanket over her sleeping form. Fuu dropped her head when she saw Sesshomaru and her hands, one of which had been rubbing small circles over Rin's shoulder, dropped. "She wouldn't be moved, My Lord," the rabbit demon whispered. "She wanted to wait for you. I meant to move her to a room as soon as she was asleep, but she's only just drifted off."

Sesshomaru nodded even though Fuu wasn't looking at him and therefore couldn't see it. "I will take her," he decided out loud. "Bring her into my room."

Fuu nodded and lifted Rin gently. Even a rabbit demon had enough strength to lift and carry a human without difficulty. As the blanket fell away from the girl, Sesshomaru could see the dried blood still on Rin's clothes and hands.

The sight of it bothered him a little, but he couldn't say why. Rin wasn't particularly fond off being covered in blood, of course, but she was already asleep so it didn't really matter.

Fuu snuffled a little when she settled Rin into his bed once again, but that was all the opinion she offered on the state of the room or the fact that Sesshomaru had requested Rin be brought back into it. He supposed he could understand what she meant – the room was in no shape at all to be even termed a room – but he had already made up his mind and he couldn't change it now.

Fuu tucked Rin under the edge of a pelt gently and left the room with a silent bow to her lord, but Sesshomaru wasn't paying attention to her. He was watching Rin and seeing the blood on her hands.

That, he decided, was what bothered him. There was blood on Rin's hands. Not figuratively, literally. Of course, she hadn't been the one to do the killing and she wasn't responsible, but Sesshomaru had always been careful not to kill in front of her as a child if he could avoid it.

There were times when he couldn't avoid it, and this was one of them, but it had never occurred to him that Rin would – or could – kill. She hadn't, Sesshomaru knew she hadn't, but to look at her you would never believe it. There was blood on her hands.

She murmured something that wasn't quite a word and shifted a little, frowning, and Sesshomaru gave up on his thoughts of Rin and death. She was still, at heart if not in body, the little Rin he had known years ago, and that meant that she was in need of protection. He shifted forms for the second time that night and curled into his fur-lined bed with the human woman tucked safely between his front paws and held against his chest.

* * *

A/N: It's my Charlie dog's birthday/adoption day. He is now six. I demand that every one have an awesome day in honor of him.


	15. Insight

West of the Moon

Chapter 14

Sesshomaru rarely slept, but when he did he found that he slept best in his natural state. He hadn't been planning on sleeping when he had curled around Rin, but he must have fallen into a doze because he was awoken but a startled squeaking gasp.

Rin had woken up and was looking up at him wide eyed.

He knew that she had seen this form of his at least once before, the first time he had brought her to this palace, but she had certainly never been this close to him. She was looking up at him with shock on her face, but there was no fear which Sesshomaru was almost glad of. While it was vaguely disturbing that he couldn't scare a human woman, he was glad to see that Rin had not out grown her fearlessness, at least around him.

She was studying his face carefully, he could see her eyes darting from his long muzzle to his small red eyes, but she seemed to look more closely at the long ears on the side of his head and the markings that had transferred from skin to fur.

"Sesshomaru-Sama," she whispered, very slowing reaching up to lay her hand on the nearest of the red stripes at the corners of his mouth. A shiver raced down his back at the feel and he concentrated on not opening his mouth and melting her with his saliva.

She withdrew her hand as slowly as she had brought it up to him. He wasn't sure if she was moving slowly because she was afraid to startle him, which wasn't likely to happen, or because she was afraid he would bite her. He had no intention of biting her but he also had no mouth with which to tell her that, either.

Her hands, both of them now, spread over the large back of one of his paws. It wasn't a pet, though, because she sunk her fingers into the fur and stopped, looking up at him questioningly.

"Sesshomaru-Sama, why are there not marks here?"

He made a low huffing sound from the back of his throat that was a rough approximation of "Hn." He didn't know why there were no marks at his ankles, especially seeing as there were stripes at his humanoid wrists, but he'd never wondered about it. It was very Rin-like to wonder such an inane thing after the combat she'd witnessed and the awakening she had had.

Her fingers brushed over the fur again as she pulled her hands back and Sesshomaru wasn't sure if it was an unconscious movement or not. There was a pause while Rin pondered weather or not to ask her next question, but Sesshomaru knew what the result would be and waited.

"What happened, Sesshomaru-Sama?" she asked at last, not quite meeting his gaze when she looked up. "Why would anyone attack you here?"

There was no answer he could give her that she would understand without a more human voice, and he had no desire to shift forms. Besides, in the morning she, and her general, would be part of his war council and she would learn everything she needed to then. Instead of answering her question, therefore, he bumped her very gently with his nose and rested his muzzle on his free paw.

Rin took the hint and sank back down into the pelt's herself, cuddled close against his leg. "I'm glad you weren't hurt Sesshomaru-Sama," she whispered into the darkness.

Sesshomaru huffed gently in response and the puff of air sent Rin's hair swirling around her head. He didn't miss the smile it brought to her face even though Rin had already shut her eyes.

* * *

The morning sun was bright and clear, shinning in from a cloudless sky. Rin was still nestled in his paws comfortably and Sesshomaru – although he hadn't slept since Rin had awoken him – felt refreshed.

He stood very carefully, keeping one eye on Rin so as not to crush her under his paws, and shook out his fur before shrinking back into his more traditional humanoid form.

Rin shifted a little, probably searching for the warmth of his paw, and stretched. Then her eyes were blinking open.

She looked up at him for a moment, mind still fuzzy with sleep, and then smiled brilliantly.

It made telling her they had a war to plan that much harder.

* * *

Sesshomaru's war council was a sorry looking sight. Sesshomaru sat at the head of a time scarred table in what had once been his father's study. The room had seen little use in his father's time and less in Sesshomaru's…neither one had spent much time in the palace. Around him, crowded into the room like conspirators, were his generals, his mother, and Rin. Jiroemon, although considerably healed, looked haggard and sallow but he sat with his back straight and his eyes were hard. Tane had arrived dressed in her most rarely used kimono, the one emblazoned with his father's – and now his own – crest.

Tane had given up on wearing the symbols of her former husbands kingdom when he had taken Izayoi as his mate. To see her wearing it now was indication of just how pissed off she was…Her son's honor, and thus her own, had been insulted by Tomoji's surprise attack and she was going to do everything in her power to preserve their family honor.

Kiyoshi sat by her side – a little too close than was polite – looking miserable and angry. He had walked in with a slight limp, which he had tried to hide. It said a lot about the break that he had suffered if he was still limping the next morning but no one mentioned it.

The council was rounded out by Rin, seated between Kiyoshi and Sesshomaru. Her face was still bruised, a strange sick green swooped over one of her cheekbones, but she looked just as determined as the others. She wasn't sure of the situation Sesshomaru had put her in, but she knew as well as any of them that if you had even an ounce of self preservation you didn't want to mess with Sesshomaru. In fact, she seemed even more offended by the fact that someone had attacked him than his mother was.

Sesshomaru fought the urge to take hold of her hand as she sat beside him.

Sesshomaru could hear Jaken outside the door of the study, listening to their plans and he knew all the others – with the exception of maybe Rin – knew he was there as well, but it didn't bother him. Jaken was not part of this council, but their plans weren't secret.

"I am going to gut Tomoji," Kiyoshi growled. Sesshomaru could see the muscles in his jaw twitch.

"No you're not." Jiroemon sounded tired, like he'd had this conversation one too many times over. "Sesshomaru is."

Sesshomaru pretended to ignore Rin's nod of agreement but it did something strange to him to know that she had such confidence in him.

"Either way, the point is not to quibble over who deserves the kill and rather to find a way to do it. We cannot let this insult stand. If we do we are no better than humans," Tane snipped.

Sesshomaru knew the barb was directed at Rin and Tane couldn't help the glance she shot the girl, but Rin didn't seem offended. She had spent too much time with demons to find the idea that human's were beneath them insulting.

"Why did he do it in the first place?"

Tane sneered at Rin, obviously feeling that she had no place in the room much less a right to be speaking, but Sesshomaru could see the sense in the question. Why had he attacked the palace? Attacking the army made sense. In a way that was retaliation. Attacking the palace with such limited numbers…he had caused trouble and destruction but it was very obviously an undermanned force if the goal had been to kill, capture or even rout Sesshomaru from his home.

But if that wasn't the goal, than why in the world had Tomoji himself – a tactician rather than a warrior – been part of the group? There was no glory in it.

Why had they attacked?

"He underestimated us," Kiyoshi announced. "He didn't know what he was getting himself into."

"No." Jiroemon caught Sesshomaru's eye as he spoke and he could see that his general had come to the same conclusion as Rin and himself. There was something more to the move than just violence. "He didn't underestimate us. He had the upper hand on the battlefield but instead of crushing us he came here. Whatever it was he wanted or planed, he succeeded."

Tane fumed, Kiyoshi as well, but Sesshomaru was thoughtful. Rin asked the question he wanted to. "What did he want, then?"

"The same thing he's always wanted," Tane growled. "He wanted to worm his way in and kill us, finish off the job Mitoyo failed to do."

Rin made a strange sort of jerk when Tane said that and Kiyoshi was quick to put a sort of comforting hand on her shoulder that Sesshomaru wasn't sure he approved of. The glare Rin's general leveled on his mother seemed out of place as well.

None of that mattered quite as much as the fact Rin's start had been accompanied by a rather surprising squeeze of his clawed finger tips in her hand. She had let go as soon as Kiyoshi touched her, but the fact remained that she had taken hold of his hand. Sesshomaru cleared his throat and continued as though nothing had happened, mostly because he didn't know what else to do.

"An assassination party wouldn't have been so clumsy as to attack openly," he pointed out.

"There must have been some ulterior motive to all this," Jiroemon mussed. "All we have to do is figure out what it is before it's too late."

* * *

Kiyoshi led Rin through the destroyed halls toward the remains of Sesshomaru's throne room, one clawed hand on her arm to support her the whole way. She was limping and the walk took twice as long as it needed to, but Rin had insisted on seeing the place where they had fought.

She also insisted on walking there herself.

Kiyoshi had tried to find a cane for her to use but she told him she didn't want one. He was sure this was some plot Sesshomaru had put her up to make him feel humiliated.

It was working.

And he was having a really hard time not digging his claws into her flesh.

But that didn't mean he couldn't still hurt her.

"Tane didn't really mean what she said." Rin didn't react to his words but he knew she was listening. "It's just that after…when her lord died, Tane had a kingdom to run and Sesshomaru began his wanderings. She never got to forget the way Sesshomaru has. Lady Mitoyo helped her, gave her someone to talk to. She liked her. And then…Tane's just upset. She would never believe that of Mitoyo."

Rin picked her way carefully over a mangled door frame. "Sesshomaru-Sama never forgets anything."

* * *

The throne room looked worse than Kiyoshi remembered. The roof was half gone and two of the four walls were more air than anything else.

He remembered falling into the room, but he liked to think he'd done it with a little more grace than this mess reflected.

Beams of what used to have been walls and ceiling made a sort of sloping mass across half the room, burring the throne itself in wood splinters and rice paper taters. "What happened?" Rin asked, taking a stilted, shuffling step away from him.

"Tomoji attacked."

"No. I mean, the first wave hit Sesshomaru's quarters. And then at the other side of the palace. They worked their way here. Why not attack the center of the palace if that was their goal. And if it wasn't, then why pick a fight and then head deeper into the palace instead of retreating as soon as they realized Sesshomaru was going to fight back?"

Kiyoshi couldn't help but be impressed. This human was thinking of things that hadn't occurred to him. He would have to watch his step around her.

"So what you mean is, why would they attack with inferior numbers and then work in, forcing us together, instead of dividing us?"

Rin took a few more steps away, looking at the wreckage. "If you were attacking your enemies camp, wouldn't you split them rather than unite them?"

He was. "I would."

"And that's why you're one of Sesshomaru's generals."

Kiyoshi couldn't help but gape at her turned back. This tiny, weak human knew more about combat and tactics than he would have guessed. She really had spent quite some time with Sesshomaru. And she was complimenting him.

She was more dangerous than he would have guessed. If she could know this much about an enemy she'd never met, then there was no way she could be ignorant of the hold she could wield over Sesshomaru.

"Maybe they were trying to distract you," she continued, holding onto broken timber and ruble as she inched closer to the toppled throne. "Jiroemon-Sama said they attacked the army but didn't destroy it the way they could have. They attacked here but they didn't bring enough men to capture the palace. What else could they have been doing?"

A diversion? Really? Kiyoshi wished he didn't find this human so impressive. If he didn't, there would be no need to kill her.

"What would - Ooh!" Rin lost her footing and tumbled forward. Kiyoshi, although quick enough to catch her, was just a second too late and she landed hard among the rubble at the foot of the throne.

His first instinct was to pull her to her feet and pretend it had never happened, but the way she had forced her eyes closed and sucked in a sharp breath when he touched her shoulder stopped him. If Sesshomaru found out he had allowed the human to be injured he had no hopes of keeping his head.

Kiyoshi grit his teeth and forced himself to speak. "My lady?"

Rin pulled in another fluttering breath and pressed one hand to her abused ribs. "Ice."

Now that she said it, Kiyoshi noted the floor around them was increasingly slick with it and the timber she been clutching was frosted with tiny crystals.

Rin took a last steadying breath and peered up at him. "There's something under the throne."

Nestled between two of the toppled legs was a beautiful glassy Lily that made Rin's breath visible in the summer air.


	16. Ice

West of the Moon

Chapter 15

They had found over a dozen ice Lilies on the palace grounds alone. There was no telling how many there were now, spread through the western lands like parasites. Tomoji must have created them, and planted them, when he attacked.

And they were slowly icing over Sesshomaru's kingdom.

The lily in the throne room had already turned half the palace into an ice cave, complete with ice pillars and deadly looking icicles that hung from every available surface.

It seemed that trying to remove the lilies only made them work their magic faster.

Rin sat very close to Sesshomaru's side, closer than even she seemed comfortable with, wrapped in his white pelt. She was still shivering, even though she had been given boots and a fur lined coat that all but blended in with the haunting clear-blue of the ice around them.

Sesshomaru tightened his fur around her subconsciously, watching Tane pace the floor before him. Rin shivered again as the soft hair brushed against her cheek and Tane glared at her with murder in her eyes.

Kiyoshi and Jiroemon were scouting out the extent of the ice. The fact that they hadn't returned yet meant that it went further than it ought to.

"This is her fault." Tane spun on her heel pointing one deadly claw at Rin. She ducked a little further into Sesshomaru's pelt and Sesshomaru pulled her closer protectively.

"No."

"Yes!" Tane said, advancing and deliberately ignoring Sesshomaru's low warning growl. Rin couldn't hear it, but she felt it vibrate through her. "If you'd paid half the attention to your empire that you pay that trollop than this wouldn't have happened! I should have left her dead as a child!"

The snake of green light that whipped forward was so fast that not even Tane had time to react until it was too late. A thin line of crimson blossomed along her left cheek and she wiped the blood away with the back of her hand.

"Enough." Sesshomaru's voice was even colder than the ice around them and Rin wanted nothing more than to untangle herself from the warmth of his fur and disappear.

Tane thought she was trying to replace his dead wife. Sesshomaru was fighting for what was his and there was no room for human girls who caused trouble in his life.

* * *

Trying to pull up the flowers was impossible. Just reaching towards one resulted in a sort of electrical shock that was ten times worse than lightning and not even Sesshomaru could force his hand through. All of their various attacks – swords, projectiles, even fire – had only made the ice spread faster and more aggressively.

Trying to stop Tomoji's terra-forming was only helping his cause. He was going to be able to take Sesshomaru's lands without even having to fight.

That didn't mean there wouldn't be a fight, but there didn't have to be one.

In the end, they were going to freeze Sesshomaru out of his own territory. It might take years – the cold didn't bother them after all – but at some point they would have to go further and further for food. Already lesser demons and reptilian demons were leaving the area. Humans were going to freeze to death or move away next. Eventually, his lands were going to be inhospitable to anything but ice demons and creatures like them.

Sesshomaru refused to let that happen. This was his land, just as it had been his father's land, and he would not lose it. The lands he controlled, even the pieces he had taken from other lords, were part of his empire and he would lose his life before he gave them up.

And Sesshomaru had no intentions of dying anytime soon.

That meant that he needed to win his lands back, return them to their original climate, and tear Tomoji limb from limb as an example of what happened to those who dared to oppose him. The quicker he accomplished that the better… A show of strength like that was more impressive if it was instant and not delayed by years of fighting.

"Tomoji has retreated beyond the barrier again." Jiroemon looked impassive, but there was a clear edge to his voice as he spoke. He took the destruction suffered by Sesshomaru's army as a personal insult and would not be satisfied until he had more than returned the favor. "They'll be expecting an attack, but I see no other alternative."

Neither did Sesshomaru and that irritated him.

Tane stood in the corner of the study like a statue, eyes fixed on an ancient depiction of Sesshomaru's paternal grandfather devouring an enormous sea creature with many teeth. She was barely breathing, holding herself together by sheer force of will, and silent as the grave. She was angry and insulted, but if she had seen any better solution to their problem she would say something.

She kept her mouth shut and Sesshomaru continued to ignore her.

Kiyoshi, on the other hand, couldn't force his attention away from her. He made a valiant effort to listen to the other two dog demons, but more often than not his eyes drifted to Tane's frozen figure and he seemed more attuned to the tiny breaths she was taking than he was to anything else in the room.

That irritated Sesshomaru as well. Relatively speaking, he knew his mother was not old and was well within the age that she could pup again if she desired. She had never been particularly motherly, so it wasn't as if it bothered him to see a trusted general show interest in her. What bothered him was how disgustingly obvious Kiyoshi was being.

Just because his general found his mother desirable didn't mean that it had to spill over into his war. It might not bother him in concept, but Sesshomaru had absolutely no desire to watch Kiyoshi lust after his mother like a love-sick pup.

If Sesshomaru were ever in Kiyoshi's place he would not dream of sharing his private desires or affections with the world.

Rin shivered and Sesshomaru gritted his teeth. He had to get back to the business of destroying Tomoji before Rin froze all together.

"Kiyoshi." His head snapped towards Sesshomaru so quickly he was a little surprised the general hadn't hurt himself. Rin tried to smother a smile and Sesshomaru found that he agreed with her…It was more than a little amusing to see a grown demon look like a disobedient child when he was caught staring.

"Yes Lord Sesshomaru?"

"We need to destroy Tomoji."

"Yes Lord Sesshomaru."

Sesshomaru could feel his anger increasing dramatically. Kiyoshi hadn't processed the issue at all and now he was wasting precious time. Jiroemon shifted at Sesshomaru's side and Kiyoshi seemed to realize just how much trouble he was getting himself into.

"Tomoji has hidden behind his barrier again." This time it was Rin who fidgeted. Kiyoshi swallowed and tried to catch back up with the conversation. "We don't have many fighters who can make it through and they'll be expecting an attack, giving them a huge advantage. We've no choice but to attack outright, but doing so will play right into Tomoji's plans."

"Thank you for that insight."

Rin hid another smile and Tane made an irritated, disappointed sort of huffing sound. Kiyoshi pretended not to hear her, but he squared his shoulders and gave Sesshomaru his full attention. He didn't seem at all tempted to look back at Tane.

That didn't stop the moment of empty awkward silence that fell around them though.

"Sesshomaru-Sama?" Rin's voice was small, but she looked him in the eyes when she spoke so there was no way to ignore her. Not that Sesshomaru had any desire it ignore her. He cocked an eyebrow and she understood it as her invitation to continue. "How do you make a barrier?"

Sesshomaru was startled and didn't answer her. He hadn't thought to ask how there was a barrier… It was just an obstacle to be overcome. Rin was turning it into a tool to be used in the game of tactics they had been pulled into.

Amazing.

Jiroemon looked to Sesshomaru and took the initiative in answering Rin's question. "Lady Rin, it is a pure barrier. It could only be created by someone, or some group, with great spiritual power."

"Is that the only way?" Rin was still looking at Sesshomaru even though he wasn't speaking.

"Unless Tomoji has found some sort of spiritually imbued relic." Jiroemon seemed to realize what he was saying, because he stopped and looked at Rin with something close to respect.

"It's too cold for humans. They wouldn't want to help."

Rin had a point. Tomoji wasn't one to make deals with inferior beings and he had no patience to keep captives alive. The likelihood that he had an army of spiritual human's protecting him was low.

"Well done, Rin."

* * *

Sesshomaru wasn't sure why he was out in the ice and not inside perfecting his battle plan. He wasn't sure why he wasn't out carrying through on his battle plan. He didn't know why he was wasting his time.

All he knew was that Rin, even though she was cold and still not healed the way she should be, had wanted to go see Ahun.

So Sesshomaru was standing in the ice and snow watching a human girl and a two headed dragon frolic in the unnatural winter.

He didn't need to be there. Rin was with Ahun, who had protected her for years and wouldn't dream of letting anything harm her. Kiyoshi, as sullen as he was, was out with her as well and even though he wasn't as devoted as Ahun he wasn't idiotic enough to put the girl in any danger.

Sesshomaru didn't need to be involved.

And that's why he was half a mile away, surveying the lands around his palace from a hill top that just happened to give him a view of Rin and her activities.

He was supposed to be waging a war. Unfortunately, he didn't seem to be able to focus. It had never been an issue before. When he had something he needed to accomplish – finding Tetsaiga, hunting Naraku, strengthening Tenseiga – he did it and he didn't let himself become distracted. When he needed more land, he got it. When fighting didn't help, he negotiated even though it irritated him. When he had to marry, he had done it even though he didn't have any inclination towards his wife. Now he had to win a war and all he could think about was Rin.

When she wasn't near him and her scent was old or weak, he found himself on edge. It was becoming distracting. And when she was near he found himself thinking ridiculous things. Was she warm enough? Was she hungry? Was she in pain? Was she happy?

But those were all just leftovers from being away from her for so long. It only stuck him as odd now because he had gone years without worrying about her and now she was his responsibility again. It wasn't as all consuming a distraction as Kiyoshi's obsession with his mother. Sesshomaru didn't need to spend all day starring at Rin and he could function without her. It was a completely different need.

And that's why he was standing out on the ice watching the girl and the dragon play while his war continued without him.

* * *

A/N: ... is anyone else traumatized about it being August already?


	17. Grow

West of the Moon

Chapter 16

Sesshomaru was still too close. He wasn't looking at them, his eyes were fixed on the horizon, but it made Kiyoshi nervous. He might be able to talk to Rin here, Sesshomaru was far enough away for a conversation to be private, but the girl was busy screeching and bouncing

It was like watching a completely different girl, one who was nothing like the insightful battle strategist from before. Seeing her now, like this, it was hard to remember that she was a threat and that she needed to be taken care of.

Kiyoshi was glad that he could still remember Tane's disappointment in him; the sting was still fresh enough to keep him on track. Rin was an enemy who would destroy Sesshomaru from the inside and he didn't even see the danger. Tane did. Kiyoshi did.

Rin had to go.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yes," Rin agreed, leaning against the side of the dragon for a moment as she caught her breath. She was healing well, her tightly wrapped ankle supported her well enough and, so long as she didn't bend too much, her ribs ached only a little. "It's wonderful. But I miss the summer and the flowers." She seemed to recollect her wits for a moment and remember who she was talking to. "I'll be glad when Sesshomaru-sama has his empire back, Kiyoshi. Everything back the way it should be."

"Of course," he agreed, "Just because you're enjoying yourself doesn't make me question your loyalties. It's nice to see that someone can still smile in the face of all this tragedy." Kiyoshi had to smother his own smile at seeing just how quickly Rin's delight was fading. "I wish this winter could have the same effect on everyone."

He was looking behind her, towards Sesshomaru, and she followed his gaze. It was superb timing that he was looking away from them, back towards the palace. "I think the cold reminds him of her."

All traces of Rin's smile were gone now and her eyes were sad. Kiyoshi almost felt bad about it, but she was the worst enemy he had ever faced for just that reason. This girl made staying strong in her presence very difficult.

"I hadn't thought of that," Rin admitted. "I should have."

"It's not your fault, My Lady. You never saw him the way he was with Mitoyo."

"No," she agreed, looking at her feet. "Kiyoshi, I have never seen you in battle, but I have seen Sesshomaru fight before. If you are a general in his army, then I know that you are powerful. I want you to help me. I want this war to be over."

"Of course, my Lady."

"If we can stop this war, if we can undo the ice, them maybe Sesshomaru won't have to be always reminded of his sorrow."

How very human of her, Kiyoshi thought, to look at the situation in that way. It was almost amusing to him. The war was and always had been about power and territory, never about love and loyalty. Mitoyo was an excuse, on both sides of the battlefield. But, Kiyoshi knew, if this girl thought that ending the war would help Sesshomaru then she would help, even when it came to the point when he or Tane told her she should leave. While Rin may be human, Kiyoshi could sense a sort of pride in her that would stop her from trying to garner Sesshomaru's affections while she thought he was mourning.

All they had to do was keep up the illusion until she could be sent away. Sesshomaru may be entranced now, but Tane was sure it was a passing fancy. When she left, things would go back to their proper places. Kiyoshi would be a general with dignity again. Sesshomaru would be a Lord worthy of empire. Rin would be a memory as fleeting as the flowers that had been in Sesshomaru's garden.

Rin shivered a little, and climbed carefully, with only a slight wince that Kiyoshi pretended to miss and that Sesshomaru didn't see, onto Ahun's back. "Let's go back. We have work to do."

* * *

Sesshomaru knew Rin shouldn't have been out in the cold. It wasn't that she seemed hurt, or ill, or anything he could define, but there was something different about her when she returned to the palace. Something not right. Something not Rin.

The image of her as a young child, sitting across the fire from him with her hair braided down her back came to his mind. It was fitting. She was Rin, but there was something wrong, just as there had been then.

He could remember untying the bow, combing through her hair, fixing her once upon a time. He would do it again. All he needed was to know which knot to untie this time.

There was a strange feeling that he couldn't define that told him Kiyoshi would know what was wrong. Or that Kiyoshi was what was wrong. That made no sense, of course, not when protecting Rin was the only way for Kiyoshi to regain his dignity. Besides, Rin would have told him if there was anything she didn't like or trust about her general.

It was the height of ridiculousness to blame Kiyoshi for whatever was bothering Rin. Although he didn't want to admit it, not even to himself, he suspected that the impulse to blame him stemmed only from his inability to be by her side at all times whereas the general had no choice.

It wasn't jealousy, that was a human emotion, but it was something very much like it.

He was Sesshomaru, though, and he would ignore that strange feeling. He had work to be doing, and he would do it.

After he spoke to Rin.

She was sitting outside still, in the barren land of his garden. He wished she were inside, but rationally thinking there was no difference now between his gardens and his rooms.

Fuu was a patient and very attentive nurse; Rin was so deeply buried in furs and pelts that she looked like a small fur mountain rather than a human woman. He stood a moment, watching her watch the gray clouds overhead before he sat down beside her. Although there was no way she could have known that he was there, she wasn't surprised to see him.

"Sesshomaru-sama, the flowers will come back."

"Hn."

She didn't look at him, keeping her eyes on the swirling skies. "The flowers always come back, after the winter. Not all of them, but enough. Things grow."

Not for the first time in his life, Sesshomaru realized that the words he was hearing had more meaning to them than just what he heard. And not for the first time in his life he realized he didn't know what the second meaning was.

But he did know about Rin and about flowers.

"You miss them."

"Yes," she agreed. "I miss them. But flowers are beautiful because they die, Sesshomaru-sama. And we remember them in the cold, and sometimes it makes things more bearable. Then they come back to us when it's warm again, and even though it's not the same as last year or the year before, it's enough. Things grow," she said again. "Things get better. And we get to see new life."

He was silent, thinking about that and Rin didn't seem to mind at all.

* * *

It wasn't until after Fuu had come to take Rin in for a steaming bath and a warm meal that Sesshomaru remembered he still hadn't told the girl how impulsive Kiyoshi could be. The general would protect her with his life, his honor would see to that, but Rin should know that Kiyoshi's every decision would be based only on how much closer it would bring him to restored dignity.

No matter, he thought, looking at the pale outline of the moon hidden behind the ever changing clouds above. He could speak to her again in the morning.

* * *

A/N: Huge thanks to all my reviewers and those of you who have added me to favorite lists. It means a lot. And I agree with all of you who are anti-school-start.


	18. Station

West of the Moon

Chapter 17

Sesshomaru didn't see Rin the next morning. He had finally given into her first request, asking Fuu to prepare her a room of her own, one with four walls that prevented the wind from chilling her in the night.

He knew where she was, of course, and he could have seen her, but there were so many things to consider.

How was he to defeat Tomoji? Would defeating Tomoji destroy the ice Lilies, or would destroying the ice Lilies destroy Tomoji? Or were they two separate problems?

What was the state of his army? He had heard Jiroemon's report, of course, and received further reports from those on the front, but he had yet to see the destruction for himself. Were there enough of his forces left to fight?

Was there enough food left in his frozen lands to support whatever army was still left to him? Or was he about to be faced with a war on all sides when his scattered army began invading the warm lands for food?

How was he supposed to break though Tomoji's barrier? Rin was more than likely right in guessing that it was created by an object rather than a person or persons, but destroying a pure object that strong would be difficult and time consuming at best. Assuming, of course, they could even find it.

And then there was Rin. She was healing, which was pleasing. She was grown, and smart, and insightful, which awakened a sort of pride in him. She was protected. She was by his side again.

He wanted – needed, even – to keep her there. With her around, he had never been indecisive. He had never been at a loss when there was something that needed to be done. He had seen the danger, killed the danger, and triumphed.

When she had been away, even though he had been the one to send her away, he had found that he didn't always know just what the danger was. He didn't know how to destroy it. He didn't know when to destroy it. He was without….something.

Sesshomaru didn't know what the something was, the something Rin had taken away with her, the something Rin had brought back to him. But it was a something he needed.

Tenseiga pulsed softly at his hip and he placed one clawed hand over it, silencing it. He was not surprised to feel life in the blade again, even though it had been silent for years. Tenseiga, for some reason and in some way he did not understand, had taken a liking to little Rin so long ago. It seemed only natural to him now that she had returned that Tenseiga tried to speak to him once more.

Tenseiga was a sword of life, a sort of paradox. It could kill the things that weren't of this world, and save the things that should live. It looked sharp, deadly, but was dull to the touch. It was a sword that required a respect for life.

And it reminded him of Rin. Rin was its first true success in his hands, and its first failure. Rin had helped to make it stronger. Rin had carried the blade when he would not.

Tenseiga was a sword about life, and about death.

That had been what Rin had been talking about too, he realized. Her flowers. She was talking about life, and about death. Flowers were life, they were fragile, they were something that could not be protected. They changed and grew and always endured, even after the frost of winter should have destroyed them all.

Rin was like Tenseiga, and Rin was like the flowers. She endured. She was small, fragile, fleeting in comparison with him, but Rin was life and life was always there.

When Rin picked a flower, she would pick only what the plant could spare. One flower out of three. Two out of five. Never once had he seen her truly kill a plant to get her treasures.

Mitoyo had killed them all.

And Tenseiga had never sung for her.

* * *

"Tane."

She was watching him from the shadows of her throne, seated to the top of the stairs and facing the ever rising sun. She spared him a glance, but only one.

"Tane, don't be angry with me."

"Sesshomaru has gone back to the front. He took Jiroemon with him."

Kiyoshi knew that. Sesshomaru had come to them before sunrise with a determination and iron will about him that Kiyoshi had never experienced before. "You will stay here," he had told him. "We have no time to waste. Jiroemon, you will come with me."

And that had been that. Sesshomaru and Jiroemon had left him, the one who had been disgraced, at home with the women. Tane knew it. Kiyoshi knew it.

"It would have been better if he had killed you."

"Is that what you want, Lady Mother?"

He had not used her title with her in many years, but now that he was so far below her, now that even she admitted it, he couldn't call her by name.

"No," she whispered at last, just as the sun crested the horizon and painted her porcelain face with shades of orange and pink. "No, Kiyoshi, it is not what I want. I want to be your Lady Wife, not the clan's Lady Mother. But I cannot be mother-in-law to a human girl. I cannot be grandmother to Hanyou. I cannot mate with one lower than a human. I will not do those things, Kiyoshi."

"No," he agreed, watching the light float across her face. "You can't. You won't have to."

She turned her face towards him again, deepening the shadows around her eyes. "The girl trusts me. All we have to do, for just a little longer, is keep her convinced that Sesshomaru can never want her. We will convince her he doesn't want her around, even as just a follower. She will not try to take his affections, but the longer she stays the more attention he pays to her. The longer she stays, the less likely it is she will want to leave.

"All we need do is make her see that it is for the best that she leave. If we do not seem to chase her away, Sesshomaru will feel no need to bring her back. He will achieve his empire. I will be a general once more. You will not have to do those things, Tane, she will be gone."

"Do it, Kiyoshi. Do it for me," she said at last. She turned back to the light, and it shone over her face and hair in a blood red halo. "It must be done."

* * *

The Lady Mother. That was her title. There wasn't really a more powerful title in their clan that was occupied. Sesshomaru, as the ruling male, was above her in station, but she was his mother and she knew more ways than she could count to bend him to her will.

At least, she used to.

She touched her cheek, remembering the thin cut that had long since healed. She hadn't told Kiyoshi about that. She couldn't bear to.

She was the Alpha female. She was Queen. She was in charge.

Except for the little fact that Sesshomaru was the Alpha male.

He defied he will now and again, he didn't comply with her wishes, he was stubborn and inconsiderate, but he had never once put her in her place before.

He had now. He'd done it for a human girl.

She should have known better, and that's why she would never tell Kiyoshi or anyone else what had happened. Sesshomaru had given her every indication that she was overstepping her boundaries – he'd told her to be quiet, growled out a warning – but she hadn't listened. She didn't believe what she was seeing and hearing.

The tiny scratch she'd received was less than she deserved. She had deliberately ignored a warning from the Alpha male concerning the well being of his mate.

She was lucky Sesshomaru hadn't been thinking about what he was doing in that moment. The warning he had given was subconscious, she doubted that even if he were to think back on it now that he would even realize what he had inadvertently revealed to her.

That was why Tane needed Rin to leave before Sesshomaru realized what some instinct was already telling him: the human was a potential mate.

Tane was only the Lady Mother. Mitoyo, despite being Sesshomaru's wife, had not out ranked her. Any mere wife would not out rank her. A mate, someone chosen not as a political or military move, would.

Tane had been only a wife. She never minded. She never wanted more. As soon as she had given birth to a male heir, her position was secure.

Izayoi was intended to be a mate. She couldn't know that for sure, not really, but it was the only thing Tane could imagine. It was what all the other demons imagined as well when they heard of her. It was only because the two had never been officially mated that Izayoi and her son where not considered a true part of the clan.

If they had mated, the human would be the Lady of the West. She would stand above the Lady Mother.

If Sesshomaru took a mate, she would out rank Tane as well.

Well, let Sesshomaru mate if he must she thought. A wife or a mate, it made no difference to her. But she would do everything in her power to see to it that no human caused her shame again. No human would ever be her superior.

* * *

Sesshomaru could win this war.

It could not be dragged out any longer, he would have to move quickly and with every resource available to him, but victory could still be his.

His army had been severely damaged, there was no doubt about that, but there were enough of them left to still be a force to be reckoned with. He would use them now, now when anger over the sneak attack and over the icing over of homes was high, and before a lack of food could divide them.

He didn't know yet how to undo what Tomoji had done, but it was a minor concern. When Tomoji was begging for mercy beneath his claws he would learn how to defeat the ice and bring back the flowers.

All he needed was a chance to pit his army against Tomoji, no holds barred, no barrier between them.

That was the job he was entrusting to Jiroemon.

Sesshomaru himself would lead the army, he would be the one to maintain the discipline and make the decisions that came with waging a war. Jiroemon was noble, he was a dog demon of strength, and he was the one Sesshomaru would send after the source of the barrier.

It would be a difficult mission, one that would leave him alone in enemy territory with no way to report either his success or his failure, but there was no other option. Jiroemon would go in alone, search out this unknown object, destroy it in some way, and try to avoid both capture and death in the process.

Sesshomaru could give him a week, and only a week, to achieve his goal. On the morning of the seventh day, whether the barrier came down or not, Sesshomaru would lead his army against Tomoji.

If the barrier fell, victory was possible. If not, the only hope they had was that Sesshomaru could destroy Tomoji before he lost his empire and his life. Either way, waiting any longer wasn't an option.

* * *

A/N: I got a new computer! Every one around here is super pissed off about it, I have no idea why... I super needed this! Anyway, I will be away for 24-48 hours while everything on this computer is transferred to the shinny new one. Hopefully all goes well and doesn't take too long! Anyway, it'll be a day or two wait on the next chapter, but I promise not to leave you all for long.


	19. Hilt

West of the Moon

Chapter 18

"There is an Ox on my front steps," Tane observed. Rin couldn't quite read the Demon woman's thoughts on the matter.

If Sesshomaru had said something like that, she would have known if he was angry or amused or curious. Kiyoshi was very forward about every emotion he felt. Tane was a mystery.

Rin knew that Tane didn't like her, maybe even hated her, but she wasn't entirely sure why. She was human, which made sense, and she spent time with Sesshomaru, but surely his own mother could see that her son was not in the position his father had been in so many years ago with Izayoi. Surly she could see that Rin would do anything for Sesshomaru, but she wasn't there to prey on the loss of his wife.

"An Ox and an old man," Tane continued.

"Totosai!" Rin realized with a jolt. It had to be the old sword smith; there was no one else who could fit that description.

Her suspicions were confirmed when Kiyoshi stepped into the room, followed by Fuu to announce that Master Totosai had come to speak to Rin.

She was grateful to see them both. For some reason Rin couldn't and didn't want to understand, Tane had requested to see her that afternoon. She had been led to the Lady Mother's personal wing in the castle and left with the woman. There had been a few strained pleasantries, an unneeded second explanation of where Lord Sesshomaru had gone, and tepid tea.

And then hours of tedium.

Rin couldn't imagine why she was still there, but there was no way for her to leave politely. Tane had somehow or other brought up the great history and heritage of the dog demon clan, and before Rin could do anything about it she was being given scrolls of names and heritages and great victories.

It was some sort of punishment, it had to be.

Worse was that Tane sat there, drinking the terrible tea, gazing away with that vacant stare Rin didn't understand while waiting for her to read through them.

Rin knew only a handful of characters. It was just enough to pick out the idea of what she reading, but she was lost more often than not.

She knew she should have just said from the start that she couldn't read, but there was something about Tane that made her hold her tongue. If it had been Sesshomaru she would have told him right off and he wouldn't have been disappointed in her.

But with Tane it felt like some kind of test. Rin didn't know why, but whatever this was she would overcome it.

Still, she was overjoyed to have an excuse to leave.

* * *

Totosai was exactly the way Rin remembered him. Still old, still absent-minded, and still traveling with MoMo.

Even though he had asked to speak to her – which she didn't understand but was grateful for – he hadn't been shown into the palace. It wasn't any warmer inside, of course, but it still seemed rude to leave him standing on the front steps.

Rin went out to great him, wrapped in all her layers and furs, and was surprised to find him dressed as he always had been. Not for the first time she envied the Demon ability to be affected by weather so much less than humans were.

"Totosai. I'm glad to see you."

"I'm glad to see me too," he answered, looking around at the icy landscape. "My whole volcano's been frozen over! These dog demons don't do something quick, they won't have anything left to conquer."

Kiyoshi, who had had no choice but to follow her, shifted his weight a little at the barb. "Why are you here, old man?"

"Dog demons," Totosai sighed. "No manners. None of them. Asking for blades that do impossible things, expecting me to work miracles, and not one of them says thank you."

Rin couldn't help grinning at him. "I'm sorry Master Totosai."

"Well, that's better. Not the same, not being a dog demon, but better. Maybe you could get some manners out of them yet."

Kiyoshi huffed again, and Totosai either didn't notice or didn't care.

"Why was I here again?" Totosai wondered scratching at his chin.

"You wanted to speak to me Master Totosai," Rin reminded him after a moment where it became obvious he had forgotten all about her.

"Did I? No, that can't be right, it was about… Oh, that's it. I finished the blade for the Master."

"Sesshomaru isn't here," Kiyoshi pointed out, obviously annoyed.

Totosai ignored him again. "I can remember it like it was yesterday. The Great Dog Demon asked me to build something like I've never even imagined. He died before I'd finished, and by the time it was done there was no need for it anymore. It sat around for a while, gathering dust, but when I heard you were traveling with Sesshomaru again… Left you behind, did he?" Totosai asked, squinting at her as though only just realizing she was standing in front of him without the Lord of the West.

"He's busy," she said by way of explanation.

"Dog demons do everything backwards," Totosai lamented. "Makes everything harder. Never will understand them."

Kiyoshi bristled. "No one is asking you to old man."

"Oh, go chase your tail, pup. Now, where was I…?"

Rin knew that at some point, if she allowed Kiyoshi to stay in Totosai's presence, the two would come to blows. As much as it went against everything in her to try and give a command to a Demon she took heart in the fact that she was doing exactly what Sesshomaru had told her to do. "Kiyoshi, maybe you should leave Master Totosai and I alone for a minute or two."

Kiyoshi stiffened and she knew in that moment that he wasn't as nice as he had always seemed around her. He was more than insulted at her order, even though she had tried very hard to make it seem only like friendly advice.

His voice was clipped when he answered her with an "As you wish, My Lady." He turned on his heel and was gone.

Rin breathed a sigh of temporary relief, but she wasn't sure how she was supposed to continue to stay in the palace with two dog demons that were less than pleased with her presence.

"I wouldn't trust that one," Totosai observed. Rin was reminded again that no matter his absent-mindedness, Totosai had occasional bouts of shocking insight. "He doesn't like you. I don't what Sesshomaru was thinking, leaving you with these people." He shook his head. "That's dog demons for you," he added, as though that explained something.

Rin couldn't help the tightness in her chest that came with the realization that the only one she could trust was Sesshomaru and he was far away.

"Totosai, you said something about a blade for Sesshomaru's father?" she prompted. She didn't know what she was going to do about her situation, but she did know that the blacksmith had had a reason to visit her and she might as well hear him out.

"Not for him, for Izayoi. It was going to be a wedding present." He pulled a small curved dagger from his belt and thrust it forward at her, apparently expecting her to accept it.

"But… You're giving it to me? Why?" Rin held the bade carefully, examining it. It was short, the blade only about the length of her hand, and slightly curved. The edge caught the quickly fading winter light and she could have sworn she saw a blue tint that reminded her suddenly of the Moon on Sesshomaru's forehead.

"I've never made a blade like that before," Totosai told her, "Took a long time, too. It's the only time I've made something that wasn't a demon blade."

"Totosai, if this was supposed to be a wedding gift for Izayoi, why are you giving it to me? Why didn't you give it to Kagome and Inuyasha?" Fuu had told her the two were married now and although she hadn't seen either of them in many years she couldn't say the news had surprised her.

"Kagome doesn't need it," Totosai answered, waving off her question with a raised hand. "It wasn't made for her. That blade might save your life."

"Totosai, I don't fight." Rin didn't know what was making her try so hard to deny the gift. It wasn't that she didn't want it, in fact she couldn't imagine not having it, but she wouldn't let herself accept until she knew Totosai was sincere.

"I don't expect you too, not with something that small. Its not what it's for. Izayoi didn't fight either. That's not the point. That little dagger is just protection. Might save your life," he repeated.

"Thank you, Totosai. I'll treasure it."

"See? Now that's how you're supposed to react when you get one of my blades! You're just lucky I know all about these backwards dog demons, girl. Always doing everything the wrong way around, I never know when one of them is going to show up at my door…" He scratched at his chin again, staring up in to the clouds absently, as though he were listening to a far away sound.

"Might need that blade sooner rather than later," he mused, looking back at her. "But it should work for you as well as it ever would have for Izayoi." There was a seriousness about him that made Rin a little uncomfortable, like he was looking into her future and saw something dangerous. The moment passed quickly, though, and soon he was back on MoMo, taking to the skies.

"Off to find the sun!" he shouted down to her as he flew away, leaving her alone once more on the icy steps.

She looked again at the dagger he had given her. She was so glad she hadn't had to give it up. It was true that she didn't fight, and probably wouldn't know what to do with the knife if she ever had to use it, but as soon as she had seen it she wanted it

The hilt was wrapped with the same pattern as Tenseiga.


	20. Want

West of the Moon

Chapter 19

There was a bright flame to the South.

Sesshomaru knew who it was and knew when they had arrived, but he didn't have time to see for himself until long after the sun had set.

Totosai wasn't surprised to see him, but since he was camped so close to Sesshomaru's army and since he was such a bright beacon in the night Sesshomaru supposed that in some ways he was expected.

"Totosai," he greeted, alighting in the middle of the ring of fire the old man had created.

Totosai nodded, head cocked as though listening to something Sesshomaru didn't hear.

The old man and his Ox were camped inside a large burning circle, on bare dirt that they had obviously won back from the ice. The fire around them was intensely hot, creating a small warm bubble in which to rest, but it was clear from the way it sputtered and struggled in places that ice was trying hard to encroach once more.

Sesshomaru could understand why the old man was on the move. This ice was like a living thing; soon it would win over the fire just as it had likely won over Totosai's volcano home.

"Thought I'd find you here," Totosai mused. "You're far from home."

There wasn't so much distance between the palace and the army that Sesshomaru would call it far, but he couldn't deny that he felt very keenly every mile that separated the two.

"I hope you know what you are doing, Sesshomaru, because it's not just your battle that could be lost here. Remember that it's not just your Bakusaiga that can make wounds that can never be healed."

Tenseiga quivered a little at his hip and Sesshomaru silenced it with a hand.

"Oh, so you've noticed Tenseiga speaking up too, have you?" Totosai asked. "I heard that sword calling all the way at my forge. You should pay attention to that blade, it knows what it wants."

"What it wants?" Sesshomaru questioned. As far as he had ever known, Tenseiga did not want for anything. It was not a sword that asked to be more powerful, or thirsted after battle in the way Bakusaiga did. It had only ever wanted to save lives, but there were no dead here. There were no dead at the palace.

"Wants, needs; however you want to say it. You haven't used that blade in years, but you carry it. When it pulsed at your side, didn't you wonder why?"

He hadn't actually. He had assumed it was only because Rin had returned, because Tenseiga had been attached to the girl, because Tenseiga and Rin were connected.

"Didn't you wonder why you couldn't save the demon you married?"

He hadn't wondered that either. He had never been satisfied staying forever in the palace; he had always been a traveler. Having a wife had in no way increased his desire to stay there. So when he had arrived at the palace and was told she was dead, it had made very little difference in his life or his routine.

There was the question of how she had died – no one had determined that, but there were no poison claw marks on her body so he knew at least his mother had been uninvolved.

He could remember looking at her body and touching the hilt of Tenseiga, but there had been no response from the sword and no demons to slay.

He hadn't wondered why.

"Think now, Sesshomaru, when was the last time Tenseiga spoke to you? What made it start again?"

Rin had returned. Tenseiga had been attached to the girl. Tenseiga and Rin were connected.

The shock that idea caused when he actually took the time to consider it must have been visible in some way, because Totosai said, "Oh these dog demons. Everything backwards. Listen to your sword, Sesshomaru."

Rin and Tenseiga were connected. When Rin was away, the sword had been dead at his side, useless. Now that she was back, the sword had found life again.

But… Rin was in the palace. Tenseiga was with him. So if her actual physical presence was not necessary, then what was it?

"Explain."

Totosai huffed. He fidgeted. He spat a monumental burst of flame at an area of his circle that had all but given way to the ice.

He didn't answer.

Sesshomaru decided he had been more than patient enough with the old man.

"Totosai." The name alone was enough threat and they both knew it.

"Tenseiga is a sword of life," Totosai said, fidgeting again. "It isn't a weapon anymore. It will destroy the things not of the earth, but its true power can only be used by someone who knows the value of life."

Sesshomaru knew those things. He had learned those things years ago, and they did not answer his current question. Rin had brought Tenseiga back to life, Tenseiga wanted Rin. But it didn't want him to give it up: the sword had not rejected him, and a human master could not wield it.

Why, then, would his sword of life desire Rin?

"Sesshomaru, Tenseiga knows what it wants. Do you?"

Did he know what he wanted? How ridiculous.

"This Sesshomaru wants for nothing."

"Hmm. Well," Totosai said, springing up onto the Ox with surprising spryness, "When you've pushed back these ice demons let me know. I'd like to get back to my forge at some point."

They took to the sky and Sesshomaru didn't try to stop them. Whatever it was the old man knew, or thought he knew, about Tenseiga was not important right now. There would be time enough to think of Rin after the battle had been won.

* * *

"Lord Sesshomaru." Jiroemon was waiting for him when he returned to camp. The general had accepted the decision that he would be the one to enter enemy territory and attempt to bring down the barrier, but Sesshomaru knew as soon as he had outlined the plan that Jiroemon still had concerns.

Both of them knew that only Sesshomaru would be able to hold the fraying army together, but it seemed foolish to Jiroemon that Sesshomaru would not use the battle-tested skills and prowess of Kiyoshi.

"Lord Sesshomaru, wouldn't it be wise to call Kiyoshi to the front as well? If the barrier should fall before the seventh day, you may need a second general to lead the attack."

Sesshomaru knew Jiroemon was right, but Kiyoshi was no longer his to command. If Kiyoshi were to be on the front lines, Rin would have to be as well.

His army would be on alert from the moment Jiroemon left them, ready to spring into battle the moment the barrier fell. If by the seventh morning the barrier still stood, they would attack anyway. With food rapidly disappearing and the ice thickening, waiting more than a week would mean losing more of his fighters than he could spare.

There would be no safe place for Rin here.

But there would be no safety for her in the palace should the battle go poorly here.

Kiyoshi could help ensure victory.

"Very well," Sesshomaru relented at last. "Send the messenger."

* * *

A/N: Short, I know, but necessary. Hope you've all enjoyed!


	21. Warmth

West of the Moon

Chapter 20

Rin didn't understand it.

When Totosai had left, she made her way back to her room alone. She didn't see Kiyoshi on the way, and she was glad not to have to face him.

She knew that the fact that she was his superior rankled the dog demon, and she knew that serving her was a sort of punishment, but his reaction still concerned her. If he really was as nice as he had pretended to be, telling her things in confidence and agreeing to follow what ever plan was put in place to win Sesshomaru's war, then why had he reacted so badly to such a trivial request?

She knew that Tane didn't like her, and she suspected that Kiyoshi and Tane were closer than they liked to pretend in the presence of others. Or, at least, closer than Tane liked to think was obvious. It was clear to everyone that Kiyoshi was smitten. Rin knew that if there was ever a choice between saving Tane's life and saving hers – not likely since Tane was a powerful demon – Kiyoshi would not hesitate to save Tane, no matter the consequences.

But this was not a life and death situation. This was… She didn't know what it was. Deception?

Totosai had told her not to trust Kiyoshi, that he didn't like her. Rin believed him. But then what was the point in pretending to be her friend?

It made him seem devious and she couldn't imagine why he would bother.

His duty was to protect her. Sesshomaru believed he would do it. She had liked that he would both do his duty and be pleasant about the situation, but she really wouldn't have minded if the demon were very upfront about disliking her to begin with.

Jaken had been very critical of her when she had first met him, and she had never minded. As she had grown, Jaken had come to accept her, but he still called her stupid now and again.

She hadn't minded at all. He could be unpleasant, he didn't have to like her, but she also knew he would never abandon her.

Kiyoshi… Well, what did she know about him? He had been friendly, but it was a false friendship. So, was his loyalty to Sesshomaru false? Or, if not false, fragile enough to put her in harms way to spite Sesshomaru for his slight?

She didn't like having to question the motives of those around her, she wasn't used to it.

At home, she had always known that even if she didn't like the decisions they made for her, her brother and Niwa only wanted what was best. Their children loved her and would never hurt her. Hisa wanted her to be happy. There were others in the village that still didn't trust her, but there was no one there who would ever try to deliberately hurt her.

Had Kiyoshi been trying to hurt her in some way? She couldn't imagine why or how. She knew his friendliness had not been an act he put on for Sesshomaru's benefit, though, so he must have had some terrible fate in mind for her…

She didn't like this feeling that the world was out to get her. She wished she were home with Yukichi and Niwa, holding the new baby. She wished she was by Sesshomaru's side. She wished she were somewhere safe.

She could go home, Ahun would take her, but there was no point. Her home was just as icy as the palace by now, and a least if she was here she might find someway to help. Besides, she wouldn't abandon Sesshomaru like that, she couldn't. She had missed him so much, and missed him still. No matter what Kiyoshi had planned, Rin would take every moment she could get by Sesshomaru's side and treasure every one.

Besides, she was warned about Kiyoshi now. She would not be so quick to trust him again, no matter how convincing he was.

She stroked the hilt of her new dagger absently, thinking about the gift and knowing that she couldn't use it to defend herself against a human adversary much less the two demons she was apparently on the wrong side of.

The hilt was familiar in her hand though, and it felt friendly despite the wickedly sharp blade. Maybe it was just that it reminded her of Tenseiga, but having the blade was comforting.

It had been meant for Izayoi.

Rin didn't know much about the woman, only that she had captured the heart of Sesshomaru's father and was the mother of Inuyasha. She didn't know when the woman had lived or how she died, but Totosai told her that Izayoi was no fighter. This blade was small and slender and, although potentially dangerous, very feminine.

Rin could almost picture it tucked away in the obi of a beautiful princess.

It was also meant to be a wedding present. It was terrible that it could never be delivered, but just knowing it was meant to be something so intimate made it feel more special somehow.

She didn't know why it looked like Tenseiga, but she had a guess.

Tenseiga saved lives. Izayoi was human. When Tenseiga had been separated from Tetsaiga, the second sword could have been discarded, but it wasn't. For some reason the Great Dog Demon had kept it.

Maybe he had known that someday he would love a woman who could be taken from him. Maybe he had wanted her to have the dagger so that they could avoid the chance he would have to use the blade with the twin handle.

She ran her fingers over the familiar pattern again, twisting the blade in the light of her lantern and watching again the shimmer of blue along the edge.

It was blue like the Sesshomaru's moon. Blue like a summer sky. Blue like the heart of a fire.

It was then that she realized her fingers were warm.

Not really warm, not like she were actually holding something hot, but just…not cold. Even dressed in layers of furs, her finger and toes and cheeks were always just moment from going numb with cold.

Now they were back to normal.

She was sitting in a palace that was all but iced over, but she was very comfortable.

Totosai had said it wasn't a demon blade, but… She set it aside, just out of reach.

In a moment that nearly frozen feeling was creeping back into her hands.

She picked up the blade again.

A comfortable temperature.

"I've never made a blade like that before," he had told her. "That blade might save your life."

She didn't know the secret of this blade and she wasn't sure she wanted to, but she was glad to have it. As much as it comforted her to know that she had a weapon should she need it, it comforted her even more to know that weather or not she could fight the blade seemed to have a magic of its own.

Perhaps it was like Tenseiga in more ways than one.

* * *

Tane paced in front of Kiyoshi, thinking deeply.

"A sword master comes to see the girl and you don't even know what he wanted?"

Kiyoshi sighed. "The old man didn't know his top from his bottom; I doubt he had anything worth while to say."

"That old man it the same one who forged Tetsaiga and Tenseiga. I don't care how much of a fool he is; somewhere in there is a sharp mind."

"It's not like he came bearing some fantastic sword for her. Even if he had, she's human. She could never use any weapon he brought her."

Tane paused, looking at him. "But then why would he come?"

"To tell her he'd lost a sock? Or announce that it was snowing? He's an old man and no matter what he can do with a forge I don't believe there's much left of his sanity."

Tane huffed and threw herself down on a mound of cushions. Kiyoshi could help but notice that even when she was annoyed she was graceful and beautiful.

"I want her out of my palace."

He smiled at her a little, sensing her frustration. "So this afternoon didn't go as well as you had hoped?"

"No, it didn't. I served bad tea, I kept her here in this cold room, I made her read the histories, and not once did she complain. She didn't make a face at the tea. She was polite and drank it. She didn't ask to leave. The look on her face when I handed her the histories… I thought for sure that she would say something, but instead she just sat there, going over each character like a child, but she never once complained. Not once."

"Oh, Tane, what did you expect?" he asked, his small smile growing. She was cute when she pouted.

"I wanted her to be ungrateful. Mitoyo would have complained. And then I could have made her see how she didn't fit in here and made her see she should just go back to whatever rock she crawled out from under. She would have left and my son would never have been able to say I hurt her."

"I'm sorry your little attempt to pick a fight didn't work, but you will at least be glad to know that she was more than delighted to escape you."

Tane brightened a little, but not much.

"I know it doesn't seem like it, and I fear I may have set us back a little in my annoyance this afternoon, but I promise you I can make the girl leave without Sesshomaru suspecting a thing. I promise you she'll go and you will never have to see her again."

Tane sat up a little among her cushions, eyeing him with pleasure. "I like when you make promises to me Kiyoshi. You always know just what I need, and you always make it happen."

* * *

It was nearly midnight when Rin, with her dagger bundled close beside her, was awakened by Fuu. "There is a messenger here, Lady Rin. He says you and General Kiyoshi are wanted on the front. Lord Sesshomaru has need of you."

* * *

A/N: So, what do we think?


	22. Touch

West of the Moon

Chapter 21

Jiroemon left just before dawn, slipping away into the frozen gray-blue wasteland.

Rin didn't like it. She knew there was no other way, not with the situation they were in being so dire, but it still seemed wrong.

She knew Jiroemon could look after himself and that he didn't mind the danger, it was just that this plan relied heavily on luck and coincidence. Especially since no one even knew if there was a spiritual object to be destroyed.

It was a good assumption, but she still felt responsible in some way. She had been the one that made them think there may be a talisman. Now that the victory they all wanted was hanging on a guess, she couldn't help feeling that if anything went wrong it would be because of her.

There was nothing she could do about that now, though, and nothing anyone else could do. Now, they just had to wait.

When Fuu had awakened her, this was not what Rin had expected. She had expected that some sort of skirmish had arisen and Sesshomaru had decided that Kiyoshi was needed on the front.

Fuu had assured her that there was no emergency, but it hadn't stopped the dread that weighed on her as she soared through the air on Ahun with Kiyoshi silent and stoic by her side.

She had not spoken to Kiyoshi since that afternoon, when she had dismissed him, and did not want to now. Sesshomaru's messenger had informed him he was needed, so Rin had been spared having to order him to come. Neither one had spoken as they left the palace, or when they flew, or when they landed.

In all honesty, though, she hadn't really cared about that as soon as she and Ahun were on solid ground. Even before the dragon had landed Rin could see that there was no fighting happening below her. She could see Sesshomaru, and Jiroemon, waiting for them. As soon as she was on the ground she was by Sesshomaru's side, so it didn't matter where Kiyoshi was or what he was doing.

There had been a small, brief meeting in which Sesshomaru explained their plan. Every one of them could see problems and dangers in the plan, but no one had a better solution.

So Jiroemon went off on his solitary mission and the rest stayed behind, preparing themselves to fight at any moment.

* * *

They watched the shadows for a long time, until neither he nor Kiyoshi could see Jiroemon any longer. Rin stood between them, quiet and solemn, but he knew that she had lost track of Jiroemon long before they had.

She didn't complain, though, and she didn't fidget.

At last he turned away, knowing that there was work to be done if he was going to get his soldiers ready for battle and keep them ready for what may be seven long days. He heard the other two follow him as he left, but then something small and warm stopped him in his tracks.

He looked back.

Rin had reached out to him, one hand caught gently around his own. She was looking up into his face with eyes that were troubled, deep, and sad. "Sesshomaru." She didn't say anything else, but he knew that she wanted to talk to him.

There was something in the way she looked at him, in the way her hand was only just over his own like it belonged there, that made an unfamiliar and pleasant warmth rise through him. Tenseiga hummed a little at his hip, but that was pleasant too so he ignored it. "Rin," he said, sliding her hand into his fully, enjoying the way her fingers felt cupped in his and the way a little of the worry left her face. "Come."

She nodded and walked by his side silently, their sleeves brushing as he led her back to the camp, her gentle human hand safe and warm in his own.

There had been a tent erected for his use, a sort of traveling headquarters, but he spent very little time there. He was more useful out among the army. There was a war to win, and it wouldn't be won by issuing commands from a tent.

It was to the rarely used tent that he led Rin now; it would be a safe place to talk, a place out of the wind, and private. If either of them noticed that there were more than a few pairs of eyes that followed them questioningly, or that Kiyoshi was not with them, neither showed it. Rin was only aware that she was safe once more, by Sesshomaru's side, and Sesshomaru thought only of the way he had missed her closeness and her scent.

It wasn't until the silken flap of the tent fell closed behind them that Sesshomaru realized he was still holding her hand. She had not tried to pull away and, although the idea was strange to him, he discovered that he did not want her to. Her nearness was something he had wanted, even if it did put her in danger.

He watched as she blinked in the light of the small lantern hung overhead and looked at her surroundings. It was not a large tent, but certainly large enough to stand it. On the icy ground there had been spread a carpet of overlapping furs and there were a few maps scattered about with the various positions of Tomoji's forces marked.

There was no fire, though, and no furniture. It was not a comfortable place, really, but now that Sesshomaru thought about it, this was the only place even remotely suitable to house Rin at this camp.

She took in the tent quickly, and Sesshomaru experienced the irrational worry that she would disapprove. She smiled at him, though, and the worry was forgotten. In unspoken agreement the two sat, side by side, and only when she was seated did he release her hand. They were still so close that her knees brushed his thigh and his white pelt cascaded over his should to pool by her hip.

Sesshomaru was not used to being this close to her, not when she was awake at least, but it didn't bother him. He could see every lash on her eyes, hear every breath, and her scent surrounded him. It was an experience he quite enjoyed, despite the circumstances.

They were quiet a moment, each studying the other, but it was a comfortable silence. "Speak," he said at last, knowing there was something she wanted to say.

"Sesshoamru, I…" She paused, looking down at her lap for a moment, blushing. "I missed you while you were away."

Sesshomaru didn't answer her, because he couldn't. It was like his voice was dead in his throat.

Rin didn't seem to mind at all, though, because she looked up at him again, no longer pink. "Totosai came to see me yesterday. When I went out to see him, Kiyoshi was…unpleasant."

Kiyoshi was not a demon know for being pleasant, but there was something in the way Rin said the word that made him stiffen just a little.

"Totosai was the same as he always is, a little forgetful, but Kiyoshi seemed eager to… Not fight, I suppose, but just cause problems. When I asked him to leave Totosai and I alone for a moment, he was very irritated. Even Totosai noticed."

There was the hint of a frown on his face.

"That wouldn't really bother me, but it was strange. He's always been very nice to me, even though I know he can't be happy with me. When I asked him to leave, he was like a different person. Sesshomaru, I know that he is one of your generals, and that he is loyal to you, but…"

"You do not think he will follow you," Sesshomaru finished for her.

"I don't know. I do not think I can trust him."

"Hn." Sesshomaru had not thought of that. There was no doubt in his mind that Kiyoshi would do whatever Sesshomaru asked of him, and that he would probably do something Rin asked of him if he saw the purpose, but that wasn't the point. If Rin asked him to do something ridiculous, Kiyoshi should obey. She should be able to trust that. And, unfortunately, there was no way Rin could physically demand Kiyoshi's loyalty.

He had made a potentially dangerous mistake in trusting Rin to Kiyoshi. It was fortunate that it could be corrected now, before any damage had come to her.

"Do not worry, Rin. Kiyoshi will be taken care of."

She nodded but didn't say anything else on the matter. "There's something else too. Totosai also gave me this, Lord Sesshomru." He watched as she pulled a small sheathed blade from inside her fur coat and held it out for his inspection.

He took it from her carefully, noting the familiarly patterned handle and slightly curved black sheath. There was no aura around the blade, no hint of demonic energy, but he got the sense that there was some power contained in the blade.

"He said it was made for Izayoi," Rin admitted as he eased the blade from it's sheath.

"Hn." He supposed that didn't surprise him. It was a delicate weapon, one he could imagine his father presenting his human princess with. It also explained why Totosai had made a blade that a human could wield safely.

"Sesshomau, I don't… Totosai said it wasn't a demon blade, but I don't think it's just a blade either."

So Rin had sensed something different about the blade as well? Interesting. It was not a demon blade. It was not a blade with any pure powers. It was not a blade that seemed dangerous to Rin in anyway except for it's obvious sharpness.

Besides, Totosai had given it to her, and Totosai was not so much a fool as to do anything that would harm Rin. The old man had the sense not to cross Sesshomaru, and he seemed to genuinely like the girl.

"It is safe," he told her, handing it back. He did not understand the power he felt in the blade, but there was no danger in it. Sesshomaru knew that there was really no need for Rin to be armed, he certainly did not intent to let her out of his protection, but he found that he was glad she was not entirely helpless. The dagger seemed a proper weapon for her.

She took the blade gently, her fingers brushing over his palm as she lifted it, and tucked it away again. Neither one of them said anything more, but they were content to be side by side, so close they were nearly touching. There was work to be done, but Sesshomaru saw no harm in staying a few moments more with Rin, and remembering the feel of her hand in his.


	23. Divide

A/N: Thanks for the reviews! Life kinda went nuts for a while. To the reader (one of you) who thought Sesshomaru was ooc...sorry? And to everyone else: another chapter!

* * *

West of the Moon

Chapter 22

Kiyoshi could feel his youkai flaring, almost overwhelming him.

When the human scum of a girl had reached out to Sesshomaru, intending to touch him, he had though that at last Sesshomaru would put her in her place. He knew that they had touched before, of course, but that was always at Sesshomaru's instigation. There had always been some reason for it: injury, chill, battle.

But she reached out and touched him and he had looked back at her with something like tenderness. Something that was not icy hate or displeasure.

Lord Sesshomaru had accepted a human's touch, and then deepened it, taking the creature's hand in his…

The rage that sprung up in Kiyoshi was from a deeper place in his heart than he could have imagined existed.

This was the same disease that had claimed Tane's husband, the greatest leader the Dog demons had ever had. It was something Sesshomaru had seemed so far from, something that had seemed beneath him, something Kiyoshi had admired about Sesshomaru…

And now, Sesshomaru had fallen even farther than his father. Sesshomaru would lose his war, lose his lands, and probably lose his life, over a human woman who wasn't even a princess. An uneducated, unrefined, peasant woman was going to bring around the destruction of the last real hope left for the Dog demon clan.

Kiyoshi would not allow it. Rin would be gotten rid of, not only for himself, but for Tane as well.

There was the whisper of suspicion that told him that even without the girl, Sesshomaru had shown himself to be too weak to lead, but that didn't matter as much as getting rid of Rin.

Everything else could be taken care of in time, just as long as the girl couldn't interfere.

More than anything, he wanted to release the power he was holding back, charge into the camp in his true form, and devour the girl, ripping her right out of Sesshomaru's arms…

He couldn't. He wouldn't. As much as he wanted her gone, there was still some part of him that wouldn't let him so blatantly disrespect the head of the clan. Even if he could have done it, there was Tane to consider. He wanted her, and he would never have her if he was dead or banished. He may not even have her if he was dishonored.

So as much as he would like to feel the warm blood of the human that was destroying his lord dripping down his throat, he had to find a way to get her to leave that did not involve violence.

He had been ordered not to hurt her, to protect her even, so he wouldn't lay a finger on her. He would get her to leave in a way that not even the compromised Sesshomaru would see fault in.

Kiyoshi took a deep breath, reigning in his rage. There was no time to waste anymore, Rin had to go, and he had to be calm to get that done.

* * *

When Sesshomaru came to him many hours later, Kiyoshi knew that there were no longer any outward signs of his hatred. "I have surveyed the troops," he said to Sesshomaru before the other could speak. "We may win this battle, but it will not be easy."

Sesshomaru took that in quietly, standing beside the general and looking out towards the invisible barrier. Kiyoshi suspected that Sesshomaru knew what he was saying already and didn't care. Whatever his faults, no one could ever say the Lord of the West was a coward.

"You met Totosai."

Kiyoshi couldn't help the shock of surprise and hint of worry that came over him when Sesshomaru said that. Whatever he had expected Sesshomaru to say, it hadn't been that.

"The sword smith came to the palace in your absence," he agreed, trying to gauge where this conversation was heading.

"You will not disrespect any guest of Rin's again." There was an iron edge to his voice that reminded Kiyoshi again that Sesshomaru was the fiercest and most deadly creature he had ever, or would ever, meet. It only made the softening and weakening Rin brought around in him all the more terrible.

Still, the message was clear. Sesshomaru meant what he said, of course, but there was also a very clear demand in there that he not disrespect Rin either.

"No, Sesshomaru," he agreed again. There wasn't anything else he could say, but he felt the rage churning in his stomach like fresh acid.

"If you have looked at the troops, then tell me what our best options for attack are," Sesshomaru said at last, changing the subject back to the matter at hand.

"Yes, Lord Sesshomaru."

* * *

It wasn't until the next day that Kiyoshi saw Rin again. She looked well rested, but there was a tenseness about her that he had never seen before. He thought at first that it was only because she was on the edge of the battlefield, and she was the only human in the center of an army of demons, but when he approached her it was obvious that wasn't what bothered her.

What bothered her, he discovered, was himself.

"Lady Rin," he greeted, trying to keep his voice neutral.

She stiffened a little more, back straightening. Her eyes made a quick survey of their surroundings before coming back to him.

Kiyoshi tried hard not to grit his teeth in frustration. That damn sword-smith had destroyed whatever credibility he had with the girl; his job was now much harder. He tried to plaster a sheepish look on his face, one that was not threatening, but Rin seemed too on edge to fall for it.

It didn't matter though. They were out in public enough – in front of the tent in which she had slept, with a few scattered demons performing their duties just close enough that she would feel safe – but out of earshot and away from Sesshomaru. This was the best opportunity he was going to get and Kiyoshi would not let it pass him by.

"I am sorry for the way I acted the other day," Kiyoshi told her, ignoring the sour taste being polite to her left in his mouth.

Rin looked surprised and seemed to forget a little of her hardness.

"Sorry?"

"Yes. Totosai was a guest of yours, I had no right to interfere, and no right to interrupt. You were right to ask for privacy. If my quick temper made you uncomfortable, I am sorry. I am…not used to following your orders."

It sounded convincing, he knew it did. The little frown on her face told him that she thought it was convincing as well, and that she wasn't sure how to respond.

"Lady Rin, I know that it isn't my place to say this to you, and I know that with the way I have acted there is no reason for you to listen to me, but… I think there is a very serious flaw in the plan Sesshomaru has devised, and I know that he would not agree with me."

That wiped all the doubts from her face. "A flaw?" The concern she felt over this development was clear and Kiyoshi knew in that moment that Rin would be gone soon.

"You know that we plan to attack when the barrier falls, or on the seventh day, which ever comes first." Rin nodded. "And when that happens, our only choice is to throw ourselves into the battle and destroy Tomoji before he can destroy us." Another nod. "Tomoji, his two daughters, and his two generals are all very powerful demons. If Seshhomaru, Jiroemon and myself attacked them, we may be victorious but it would not be an easy battle. If only Sesshomaru and myself fight them, which we may be forced to do, then we will have to hope that we can take them before they've had a chance to realize what is happening."

Rin nodded once more, but he could see the worry building inside her. She knew what he was working towards telling her.

"If only one of us were to try and attack them…"

"Five ice demons could destroy a dog demon," Rin said for him. "Any dog demon."

Kiyoshi nodded.

"Lord Sesshomaru knows that," Rin pointed out.

"Yes, he does. But he doesn't see how splitting up may be our undoing. If one of us encounters the ice demons alone, he believes that at least one other of us can get there in time to even the odds. But in a battle as fierce as the one I expect, I don't know if that is possible."

"Why would you be spilt?" Rin asked.

"If we lead two separate forces, and create two fronts for the fight, then we will be apart but still close enough to fight together. But if one of us holds back, here, then the other is as good as dead and Tomoji will win. It may not be an instantaneous victory, but there will be no way for us to recover."

Rin nodded, but the color had left her face. Kiyoshi could see her putting together the pieces he had laid before her.

"Sesshomaru thinks that you should stay behind."

Kiyoshi nodded, looking dour. Sesshomaru had made no such plan, but Kiyoshi was worried it was only a matter of time. It didn't matter that he was lying to the girl though; it was in everyone's best interest that she leave and leave as quickly as possible.

"Sesshomaru has taken you back under his care, Rin, and he will not fail you the way he failed his wife. He won't say it like that, but I know him. You know him. Sesshomaru does not accept failure and he will not allow a second failure to someone he is responsible for. He will not see that it will cost him his war, his lands and maybe his life."

"And I cannot order you to go," Rin realized, knowing already that Sesshomaru was stubborn in the extreme. Even if she asked that Kiyoshi fight, if Sesshomaru disagreed then Sesshomaru would get his way. "I cannot make him see the danger anymore than you can."

"Lady Rin, I don't know what to do. I can't disobey, but I can't let Sesshomaru go to his death."

"No," she looked ashen and her voice was quiet. "No, we can't."

There was silence, where Kiyoshi wanted nothing more than to suggest she leave, but it would work better if she thought of it herself.

"Kiyoshi, why is Tane not here?" she wondered. "She would help to even the numbers. Can't you ask Sesshomaru to let her come?"

"I…" He didn't have answer, but then her words registered in his mind and he changed tack. "You won't ask him yourself?"

"No." She swallowed hard and he could see her eyes were overly wet. "Whether Tane is here or not, you cannot afford to leave someone behind with me. As long as I stay, he will see me as a responsibility." She blinked a few times, looking down at her feet. "Kiyoshi, I have to leave. I have to go back to my brother," she whispered.

He didn't notice that she didn't say "go home", he was too busy savoring his victory.

* * *

"Sesshomaru?"

Sesshomaru gave no indication of having heard him, but Kiyoshi knew he had.

"Lord Sesshomaru, Rin left. She asked me not to follow."

There was a long, long moment of quiet.

"Rin left?"

"My Lord, she said she missed the humans and wanted to be with them once more. She took the dragon."

There was another long silence, one that made Kiyoshi nervous and he shifted on his feet trying to force the uncomfortable silence away.

"Hn," Sesshomaru said at last.


	24. Not Heartless

A/N: Again, thank you so much to those who have reviewed/favorited. Thanks also to those who just read. Kiyoshi couldn't spend the time trying to win Rin's trust not to try something sneaky, and you all know it. Anyway, enjoy the peace and quiet of this chapter, it will not last. On a side note, for those of you not recognizing characters (specifically a question about who Tane is (Sesshomaru's mother)) there are twenty odd previous chapters you may need to reread...

* * *

West of the Moon

Chapter 23

Ahun flew too slowly and too quickly all at once. In the cold, the dragon was slow and sedate, even with the advantage of warming each other with their lightning. It took longer than Rin liked to reach Yukichi and Niwa.

Somehow, though, it felt like she was in the air only a few minutes before she was too far from Sesshomaru all over again.

It felt almost cowardly to run away like this without explaining, but she knew as well as Kiyoshi did that Sesshomaru would not see that this plan benefitted him. It was better to go now, without interruption or second guessing.

But if she was honest, it was also because she didn't know if she was strong enough to look into Sesshomaru's face – into gold eyes she had learned to read all over again – and say good bye.

She didn't want to leave. She wished at least that Sesshomaru knew that, but leaving was the only way she could see to help bring him the victory he needed.

Kiyoshi would tell him she had left and tell him she was safe and not to worry. Kiyoshi may not be the demon she had thought he was at first, but he would not lie to Sesshomaru.

None of that made leaving feel any better though.

There were tears on her face, but she only realized they were there when she felt them drying and freezing away. She shivered and clutched one hand around the dagger at her belt, but that didn't help the ache in her chest.

The dagger only reminded her of Tenseiga, and of its master.

Rin leaned down, into the space where Ah and Un became one body, and cried into their joint mane.

* * *

The village looked deserted when Ahun landed, but there was smoke rising from every house that told her everyone was shivering in their homes trying to stay warm.

With tears in her eyes, the world around her seemed blurry and disconnected, but somehow she was off Ahun and running into her brothers home as soon as the dragon touched down.

Yukichi caught her as she all but ran through the door, wrapping his arms around her in a hug that lifted her off her feet. She hugged him back, holding on to him tightly, but somehow not even that stopped the shuddering sobs that wracked her.

Yukichi was talking to her, pushing her hair out of her face and hugging her again. He was asking questions, trying to understand but she couldn't make herself talk. All she could do was stand there in front of him with her breath hitching and her eyes wet and red, and cry.

She felt like a child again, like she had before Sesshomaru had saved her, alone and scared and helpless.

* * *

It took time, but Yukichi eventually got her settled into the small home, seated quietly by the fire. She looked different somehow than the sister who had run away. It wasn't the very faint bruises, and it wasn't the new clothes, it was a sort of thinness in her eyes and in her cheeks. Not an ill look, really, but like there was some part of her missing.

She smiled, really smiled, when Niwa had hugged her and pressed her first niece into her arms, but it was still a smile that seemed to be missing something.

Yukichi didn't know what it was but it made his heart clench a little.

The Rin he had left the night his parents died had been sweet and kind and very prone to disobedience. There was no mischief she did not delight in.

The Rin he had met and taken from Sesshomaru had been sweet and kind and self sufficient.

She worked hard and learned quickly and even when life was hard – he knew that her first months here had been miserable – she had still smiled and laughed. Those times had been rare, but they were genuine.

Now, though, her smile seemed a little empty.

When she had barreled into him, sobbing and panting and shaking, he had thought that maybe Sesshomaru had hurt her. It was the only possibility Yukichi could think of, but he dismissed it as soon as the thought occurred. He knew, even though he wasn't sure how he knew, that the demon lord who had terrorized to village looking for her simply couldn't harm her.

All she had told them, when her voice came back to her, was a stilted "I had to leave."

The children had edged around him then, looking a little scared to see their Aunt Rin so distraught, and she had collected herself as she pulled them each into hugs. She smiled her hollow smile and hugged Niwa and held the new baby and sat by the fire and tucked her fur jacket over her nephews when they were sleepy.

She was quiet though.

"Niwa, what do we do?" he asked his wife quietly. Yukichi stood by the door, looking back in on his sister and sons. Niwa rocked side to side beside him, wrapped in a blanket and cradling their fussy daughter.

"She will be alright," Niwa murmured back. "When she's ready, she will tell us more. And all we can do until then is be glad she came back to us."

Yukichi nodded, catching his wife with an arm around her shoulders.

"I just wish we knew how to help now. I missed so much of the worst parts of her life, I don't like seeing her so upset and not doing anything."

Niwa bounced the little girl gently, studying Rin. "She's stronger than you give her credit for. I know I could not survive the things she has seen. But, Yukichi, that look on her face when she came in… It makes no sense, but when I saw her, all I could think was that is the look you wear when you're heartbroken."

* * *

It wasn't until the next morning that Rin seemed to come back to herself a little. She moved like a person again instead of a puppet on strings. There was still the thinness in her eyes, still a hollowness in her rare smiles, but she talked a bit more and seemed content enough to help cook, carry wood, and care for the children.

Niwa hovered around her like a worried sister, but Rin didn't mind. Niwa was so gentle in her prodding, and so obviously concerned, that Rin found it was very easy to talk to her about everything. Then again, it had always been easy to talk to Niwa and she had always been much more understanding than Yukichi was even capable of.

It still took another two days for Rin to find the strength to tell Niwa all that had happened to her in her absence, but Niwa was patient and didn't push. Rin told her about the feeling of panic when she knew Shigechiyo wanted to marry her, about how she couldn't think of reason not to marry him that wouldn't seem childish, and why she had decided to run away.

Niwa looked at her sadly, but she didn't criticize her for the decision. They both knew that refusing was her right, but Shigechiyo would not have taken the rejection politely. He had caused enough trouble in Rin's life that Niwa could understand how fleeing had seemed the only option.

Rin told her about being captured and waking up in Sesshomaru's castle. She blushed then, leaving out that she had been in Sesshomaru's bed and had slept beside him, because while she knew Sesshomaru was nothing if not proper there was no way to tell that part of the story without someone's honor coming into question.

Niwa noticed the blush, but she didn't comment.

Rin told her about learning Sesshomaru had married and lost his wife, that there was a battle, but Niwa only nodded. Now that there was ice everywhere, every one knew there was a great demon battle waging.

Rin told her about Kiyoshi and Tane, the ice lilies, and Jiroemon going through the barrier alone. She showed Niwa the blade, and told her about Totosai and Kiyoshi's reaction.

And then she told her about leaving.

"I couldn't stay there, Niwa. I couldn't. Not when Kiyoshi told me what Sesshomaru was planning. I couldn't cause his death."

"Rin…" Niwa shifted her little daughter so that she was cradled in one arm and reached the other hand out to Rin, touching the side of her face. "Rin, you are the bravest person I have ever met. When you left us, we were so worried, but we knew that you were strong and capable, even when things seem impossible.

"I know Yukichi never told you this… I'm not sure I should tell you this now, but I think maybe it will help. Do you remember when you were sent away with Yukichi?"

She nodded, and Niwa couldn't fault her for the distant look in her eyes.

"Did anyone ever tell you why?"

Rin took a shuttering breath. "Sesshomaru told me it was because I was human."

"Don't you want to know what he told Yukichi?" Niwa took Rin's startled look as a yes. "He told your brother to take you and build a home and keep you safe and happy. He told him not to take you back to the village you had lived in. Rin, he promised that he would find you a year from that day, and if you weren't happy with Yukichi he would take you back."

"Sesshomaru… Lord Sesshomaru came back for me?" Rin heard her voice ask the question, but she felt like someone else had moved her mouth.

"He did, Rin. Yukichi saw him on the edge of the forest."

"But he didn't come get me," she whispered.

"I… Rin, I wasn't there. Yukichi doesn't know what happened that day. He saw Lord Sesshomaru by the tree line, and then he was gone. They never spoke. But Sesshomaru has come back a few times. I've even seen him, Rin, just inside the trees. Even after all these years he keeps track of you."

"I…" Rin didn't know what she wanted to say. Niwa just nodded and gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze.

"When you left us, Sesshomaru came down into the village."

"What?"

"He seemed to know you weren't here. He marched right into the center of the village and demanded your whereabouts."

"Sesshomaru looked for me?" Rin felt like she were watching this conversation instead of being part of it, but it didn't matter. She had spent years missing him, it felt so much better to know that he hadn't really abandoned her.

"He found you, Rin. How could you have ended up in his castle if he had not looked for you?"

Rin hadn't thought about that. She felt foolish now for thinking it was luck that had reunited them.

"But… Why?"

Niwa only smiled again, a sort of smile Rin didn't understand. "I don't know. You know Sesshomaru better than anyone here, Rin. Tell me about him."

* * *

No one had ever asked Rin to describe Sesshomaru before. People talked about him, or around him, but no one ever asked her what she thought of him.

How was she supposed to let Niwa see Sesshomaru the way she did?

"Sesshomaru is safe. He makes me feel like nothing can ever hurt me. When I met him… Oh, Niwa, I can't even tell you what that was like. He was in the forest, hurt, and when he first caught sight of me I knew for sure that he could kill me with just a look. But he didn't. And since then, never once have I been afraid of him. Never.

"I remember, he asked me about my bruises. I couldn't answer him, but he asked anyway. He made me feel like I mattered. And even though he didn't save me from the wolves, I remember waking up and looking into his face and knowing with every fiber in my body that if I didn't follow him I was never going to find anyone else who would look at me like I was worth saving."

Niwa nodded and her hand brushed Rin's in silent understanding and encouragement to continue.

"You and Yukichi, your children, Hisa… I know you all care about me. But that moment where I felt safe from everything for the first time I can remember, that moment is something no one else has ever made me feel."

There was a little sparkle of tears in Niwa's eyes, but not in her voice. "And now Rin? Now that you're all grown up?"

"Now I can understand him a little better. He's always been quiet, but there are so many ways to know what he thinks and feels. When I was younger, I thought he always knew exactly what to do. But I can see now that there are many things he has to do, that he doesn't always know what needs his attention and what doesn't. He isn't as cold as he acts, Niwa, but he is stubborn and strong and proud."

"He is a demon of duty and honor?"

"Yes, he is those things," Rin agreed. "But he is also… I don't know how to say it. He is not used to being wrong or making mistakes. If he ever does, he only pushes them aside and overcomes them. Nothing stops him."

"Hard-headed."

Rin had to smile at the description. Sesshomaru never seemed to falter, but it wasn't because he never made mistakes. "No. Determined."

"So he is safe and determined?"

Rin frowned a little. That was all true, but it seemed so heartless. She knew there was a heart under there.

"He is… kind," she fumbled with the word. "I mean, he is not cold. Not heartless."

"Not heartless?"

"He kills. He doesn't regret it or mourn over it. But he saved me, over and over again, and he still does. When I was hurt and sick, he was there with me and looking after me. When he looks at me I feel – something. It isn't that I'm a responsibility, or a burden. It's something warm."

"So," Niwa all but whispered, "Not heartless then."

"Niwa, when I reached out to him two nights ago, he didn't pull away. He held my hand and walked with me and listened to me and sat with me. He held me," she recalled, almost feeling his pelt around her as they sat in the throne room. "He kept me warm. He slept beside me."

Niwa let that comment slide by without reproach.

"He must care for you."

"But his wife – "

"Didn't you say he was determined and bound to honor and duty? Rin, I do not mean to say that he didn't care for the woman, but how do you know the marriage was a love match?"

"Kiyoshi told me he loved her."

"Kiyoshi told you he was your friend, too, but you seem not to believe that now. So why believe what he said bout Sesshomaru? I know that I have not met him and I am no expert, but I cannot see anyone, man or demon, taking your hand and making you feel warm with just a look if he were mourning a lost love."

Kiyoshi alone had told her about Mitoyo. Tane had been so contrary whenever her name was mentioned. Sesshomaru had not ever been phased at hearing her name. DId that mean...Was Niwa right?

Rin took the dagger from her obi, holding it in her hand and looking at the hilt. "Totosai said it was supposed to be a wedding present… why did he never give it to Mitoyo?" It may not be a demon blade, but there was no harm in a demon using it, Sesshomaru had seen that. So why would she be given the blade and not Mitoyo, a woman who was actually married to the demon lord?

Niwa's hand closed over hers gently, breaking her gaze away from the familiar hilt. "Rin, I may not know your Sesshomaru, but I do know you. No matter what is or isn't true of him, I know that no woman in the world could describe a man the way you have unless she felt something more than respect and gratitude for him."

"But I… Lord Sesshomaru isn't…"

"You came to us yesterday crying and upset. Why?"

"Because I had to leave Sesshomaru. I had to save him."

"And you are sad to save his life?"

"No, I…I am sad not to be with him."

Niwa smiled at her and patted her hand gently, but she was quiet.

Rin swallowed.

"Niwa, I think maybe I shouldn't be here."

"Maybe not."

"I think I have to go back."

Niwa nodded. "Maybe Rin."

It didn't change anything about the battle, but somehow being away from Sesshomaru was worse than being with him. Rin would make him see that he needed every fighter available, she would hide anywhere he told her to, she would do anything he asked, but she would not abandon him.

Sesshomaru had never abandoned her, and Rin would do no less.


	25. Intention

A/N: Psych

* * *

West of the Moon

Chapter 24

She didn't make it back to Sesshomaru. She barely made it out of the house.

She told Yukichi in a sort of scrambled rush that she was going home, she kissed her nephews and new niece, hugged Niwa and was out he door looking for Ahun before she had even thought about what she was doing.

Somehow, though, the thought of going back to Sesshomaru rose in her like a bubble and carried her on without even thinking to take food or reclaim her fur coat from her nephews.

She had only just reached out to Ah to pat the sleepy dragon's nose when there was a thundering crash just on the northern edge of the village. The ground beneath Rin's feet trembled and she heard a few strangled yelps of panic from the villagers around her.

She could see a few trees topple and tumble out of the forest like they were nothing more than twigs, and then she heard a sound that made her blood run cold. There was a yip and a howl and then the frenzied growling, teeth snapping sound of a dog demon in pitched combat.

For half a second she thought it was Sesshomaru, but then there was another snarl and more trees slammed into the frozen ground and she knew what was happening. "Jiroemon!"

She ran towards the sound, towards the battle, without thinking. There was nothing she could do except be in the way and end up dead, but it had to be Jiroemon being pushed out of the barrier.

Someone had found him. Now there was no hope of bringing down the barrier. It had been – she thought quickly counting the days – It had been four days since he had left. If Sesshomaru intended to attack on the seventh morning, then there were only two days left.

Behind her she head the roar and crackle of Ah and Un's lightning as they tried to warm themselves into action and follow her, but she didn't wait for them. Niwa screamed out her name, calling her back, but that didn't stop her either.

She knew what she was doing was stupid, but she had no intention of interfering. All she could really think was that in a battle she was no use, but she at least owed it to Sesshomaru to see how this entire thing played out.

She had left her Lord, she had sent Jiroemon into this danger, and all she could do to try and make it right was not run away from the things she was responsible for.

Rin slid into the nearest tree, clutching its rough, chilled bark and panting. She could feel her heart pounding fast and hard in her chest, but all she could hear was a sudden ripping, squealing snap that echoed through the sudden silence.

And then a long howl that made her think of a wolf towering over his kill.

She forced her fingers out of the little crevices in the trees bark and crept forward carefully.

The fight seemed to be over, and there was a treacherous hope in Rin's chest telling her that Jiroemon had been victorious, but she wasn't going to trust that just yet.

There was no need for her to worry though. As soon as she was close enough to see, Rin peeked through the bare twigs and shrubs and saw what looked like jagged, icy boulders strewn around a rough clearing that had never been there before.

Jiroemon stood in the center of it all, very small looking in his human form beside the ice chunks, wiping a smear of blood from his cheek onto his sleeve.

He paused a moment, head turned slightly, and then his eyes fixed on her with deadly accuracy.

"Lady Rin."

"Yes," she said, trembling a little as she emerged from her hiding place. She hadn't been scared racing to a battle she knew she couldn't fight, but somehow she was afraid standing in front of this demon.

"You are alone."

"Yes."

He didn't ask her where Kiyoshi was, or where Sesshomaru was, or why she was there, and she found that made her feel a little better.

"What happened here?"

Jiroemon looked around, seeming to just realize there were giant ice blocks around him. "Oh. Ine was the youngest and weakest daughter of Tomoji. She was foolish to attack me, but we were lucky she did not simply report back to her father that she had seen me."

Rin's stomach lurched a little. The giant ice pieces around her were actually the remains of Ine, the ice demon. She had to remind herself that this was what happened in war, and that the death of the ice demon helped to even the odds.

"Have you had any luck destroying the barrier?"

Jiroemon looked at her with his muddy eyes, and while he was clearly related to Sesshomaru there was no way for Rin to read his face.

"You should not be here alone."

"I was on my way back," she told him. "My village is just beyond these trees, Ahun is waiting to fly me away."

Jiroemon looked passed her, as though he would be able to see the village. "Kiyoshi is not with you."

"No." Rin looked down at her booted feet, noting dimly that her coat was still back in Yukichi's home. "I left."

"But you intend to go back?"

"I made a mistake," she admitted, looking back up into his face and meeting his almost familiar eyes. "But I will not abandon Lord Sesshomaru."

He nodded, looking at her intently. "Even if it means your death?"

"Even then."

"Sesshomaru seems to have chosen wisely indeed," he murmured.

There was a sudden scream of rage from overhead, and both Jiroemon and Rin watched in surprise as an enormous creature flew overhead, darkening the already gray skies.

"Vulture. If Tomoji did not know of Ine's death, he will soon." Jiroemon fixed her with a look she wasn't sure she liked. "Lady Rin, this village you spoke of… There are creatures there that you care for?"

She nodded. "My brother and his family."

"If you wish to keep them safe from Tomoji's wrath for the death of his daughter, you must not return there. The vulture has no doubt scented you and will know if you flee in that direction."

"But Ahun is there. How will I get back without him?"

"You will not. If you cannot go back to the village, I cannot allow you to wander out here alone. Sesshomaru would have my head. You must accompany me."

Rin couldn't help that her jaw fell open, but she didn't have any argument to make. "What about your mission?" she asked, shocked.

"Do not slow me down."

* * *

Rin couldn't believe she was walking right back into the heart of the frozen barrier, following behind Jiroemon the way she had once followed Sesshomaru. There hadn't been a choice really, afterall Jiroemon seemed to believe he had no choice but to bring her along, but it still seemed crazy.

He moved quickly, but without the supreme self confidence Sesshomaru had. Rin was still able to keep up. She knew that in part it was because she was taller now, no longer a child, but she also suspected Jiroemon had slowed down for her despite his warning.

He had also insisted that they camp for the night, even though Rin had protested that they were wasting time.

It wasn't that she wasn't grateful, but she wished he would just leave her behind and get to wherever they were going quickly. He seemed to have some idea of where to find their goal so as far as Rin was concerned the sooner it was destroyed the better. If she was left behind then that was how it had to be. As it was, it was the fifth day since he had left Sesshomaru's camp and time was quickly running out.

* * *

The next morning found her following Jiroemon once more.

"You know where to find it, don't you?"

The demon didn't look back at her. "Yes. Ine was left to guard it; no one expected that she would have to defend it. But we fought a long battle over a great distance and we are no longer as close to it as I was."

"What is it?"

"As you thought, Lady Rin, a spiritual object. It is in a box, but I could feel its energy anyway."

"So if you know where this thing is, why are you wasting so much time with me? Go and destroy it."

His eyes flicked back at her, and then back to the land around them. They had passed through the barrier the night before and Rin couldn't help the fear that welled up in her that the barrier seemed to be growing. She was sure that she had traveled farther on Ahun than the distance they had walked.

"I cannot do that Lady Rin."

"Not even if I ask you to?"

"No. I cannot leave behind Sesshomaru's chosen mate anymore than you can abandon him."

Rin stopped dead in her tracks.

"I am not his…_mate_." Her voice sounded strangled even to herself.

Jiroemon turned and looked at her again, studying her carefully. "Not yet. But we have all long suspected that was his intention."

"All?" Now her voice was high pitched, squeaky even

"Of course. Jaken said that there was no possibility. The Lady Mother, General Kiyoshi and I are not so easily fooled though. He is very attentive towards you. I assumed he intended to take you as mate."

"But…" Rin tried to bite back a bubble of panic that she didn't understand. "But I'm human. Kiyoshi and Tane hate me. And what about his wife? Didn't Sesshomaru loose his wife?"

"I cannot speak for The Lady Mother or Kiyoshi, but you have proven yourself far more devoted and trustworthy than I believe Mitoyo was even capable of. Being human is of course unforgivable, but irreversible as well. If you were not human I would see no reason for you to be an unsuitable match.

"Of course, if Sesshomaru has not spoken to you of this, then perhaps we were all badly mistaken, but I do not think three of us could so misread Sesshomaru and his actions as to be wrong about this.

"As for Mitoyo… I fear someone has misinformed you. I do not think she and Sesshomaru even spent three hours put together in the same room in all the time she lived in the palace. The match was solely for land, and someday an heir, but I have never before seen anyone look so indifferent as Sesshomaru did when he heard of her death. He is hardly mourning her loss."

Rin could only stand and stare, trying desperately to reweave this story of Sesshomaru and Mitoyo with the truth she now knew. Kiyoshi had done so much more than only pretend to befriend her, he had lied to her. He had lied to her about everything.

And for what? To hurt her? To get her to leave? Because he thought Sesshomaru wanted her the way his father had wanted Izayoi?

She felt a hot blush rise up her neck and face, and shook her head to clear her thoughts.

"Jiroemon, please, let's just destroy this thing and get out of here," she said, marching past him with renewed determination. "It seems I have a few things I need to set straight with a few demons."

"Yes, Lady Rin."


End file.
